The environment and forests ministry on Wednesday cleared the designation of parts of the 8000-km long Seshachalam hill range in Andhra Pradesh as a biosphere reserve, as urged by the state government last month, to protect its rich biodiversity.

The biosphere reserve will extend over 4,756 sq km of area in Chittoor and Kadapa districts, that includes the core zone of 750.589 sq km spread over the Rajampet forest division of Kadapa district, Tirupathi forest division of Chittoor district, Sri Venkateswara National Park, and areas contiguous to it.

The buffer zone of the reserve spreads over 1865.156 sq km  covering reserve forest lands and parts of Sri Venkateswara wildlife sanctuary , while an area of 2140.252 sq. km. falling within 5 km radius from the outer boundary of the b ffer zone has been designated as the transition zone. 

The whole area that has been declared a biosphere reserve is hilly, undulating terrain with deep gorges and plateaus and picturesque with waterfalls, including the famous Talakona, Gundalakona and the Gunjana falls.

Tirumala, hailed as the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, is located on seven hills known as the Seshachalam hills, a part of this biosphere reserve. These hill ranges are extremely rich in plant diversity containing many endemic plants, Red Sanders trees and several other endangered and vulnerable plant species. These hills are also home to endangered animals like the Slender Loris, the Indian Giant Squirrel, the Mouse Deer, and the Golden Gecko.

A ministry spokesman said the core areas are free from human habitation and would be open only for research activity and manipulative macro-management practices in addition to acting as demonstration sites for value addition to the resources in the buffer areas. The transition areas with human settlements would be put to development, recreation and other economic uses for the local communities, he added.

The designation of these hill ranges as a biosphere reserve would entail complete financial assistance by the Central Government for implementation of all approved activities under the Management Action Plan like development of certain infrastructure facilities, an interpretation centre and various livelihood programmes for the local communities,  besides attracting international concern and assistance for its long term conservation.