GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Lies in Solan District some 45km by road south of Simla. Bounded by a tributary of Giri River to the north-west and south-west, by Solan/Simla District boundary to the north and by Giri River to the south-east. 30*54'-31*01'N, 77*07'-77*17'E

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT Notifed a sanctuary on 21 March 1976, having been a private hunting reserve of the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala.

AREA Notified as 10,855ha, but re-estimated by IIPA/Environmental Studies Division (pers. comm) as 11,004ha using digitized maps. Chail is connected by a forest corridor to Simla Water Catchments Area, a 951ha sanctuary to the north.

LAND TENURE Provincial government. Local people exercise certain rights to land resources. Some 3,446ha are cultivated and only 100ha of forest are free from such rights, other than right of access (Singh et al., 1990).

ALTITUDE Ranges from 701m to 2,180m (Singh et al., 1990).

PHYSICAL FEATURES Comprises part of the catchments area of a tributary of Giri River.

CLIMATE Mean annual rainfall is 1603mm. Temperatures range from -4*C to 28*C (Singh et al., 1990).

[* * *Scientific Name of The Indian Birds* * *]

VEGETATION In general, northern slopes are forested while southern slopes support grasslands, usually with patches of forest or scrub in gullies and depressions. Grasslands are probably maintained by regular burning and cutting. The dominant forest tree is ban oak Quercus incana, mixed at lower altitudes with chir pine Pinus roxburghii. Rhododendron Rhododendron arboreum forms pure stands in places and cedar Cedrus deodar and blue pine Pinus wallichiana have been sown in some areas. There is little mature forest and much secondary growth due to disturbance (Gaston and Joginder Singh, 1980). Reference to the habitat map in Garson (1983) shows that forest is largely confined to the northern half of the sanctuary. Some 418ha had been planted with pine, oak, cedar and Robinia sp. up to 1984 (Singh et al., 1990).

FAUNA Large mammals include rhesus macaque Macaca mulatta, leopard Panthera pardus (T), Indian muntjac Muntiacus muntjak, goral Naemorhaedus goral (numerous) and crested porcupine Hystrix indica (Gaston et al., 1981, 1983). Other species listed by Singh et al. (1990) include Himalayan black bear Selenarctos thibetanus (V), wild boar Sus scrofa, common langur Presbytis entellus, sambar Cervus unicolor (its northernmost distribution) and black-naped hare Lepus nigricollis. European red deer Cervus elaphus was introduced half a century ago by the former Maharaja of Patiala (Singh et al., 1990), but none was sighted during a census in 1988 (S. Pandey, pers. comm.).

Singh et al. (1990) provide a list of birds. Cheer pheasant Catreus wallichii (E) and kalij pheasant Lophura leucomelana populations may have declined in the period 1979-1983. The cheer population in March 1983 is estimated to have numbered at least 32 pairs, at a density of about 7 pairs per sq. km (Garson, 1983). A cheer pheasant breeding and rehabilitation programmed was initiated in 1988 (Singh et al., 1990).

CULTURAL HERITAGE Of historic interest are the former palace of the Maharaja of Patiala (now a hotel) and Siddh Baba temple.

LOCAL HUMAN POPULATION There are 121 villages (including Chail township) inside the sanctuary, with a total population of 8,627 people. There are also 18 private industries, including sawmills, inside the sanctuary. The surrounding area is also densely populated (Singh et al., 1990).

VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES Accommodation is available at Chail (Hotel Palace, and forest and PWD rest houses) and Gaura (forest rest house).

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND FACILITIES The cheer pheasant population was censused in April 1979 (Gaston and Joginder Singh, 1980) and March 1983 (Garson, 1983). There are no scientific facilities, but a small laboratory is located nearby at Kufri.

CONSERVATION VALUE Formerly a private hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Patiala, Chail is now severely degraded (Singh et al., 1990). Nevertheless, it holds an internationally important population of cheer pheasant (Gaston and Joginder Singh, 1980; Garson, 1983).

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT Local people have rights to graze livestock, collect timber, firewood and other forest produce, quarry, cultivate and perform religious rites, including burial of the dead. There is no management plan. It has been recommended that extraction of timber should be stopped altogether, or at least during the breeding season for the benefit of the cheer pheasant population (Garson, 1983). Electric fencing has been installed to keep out livestock.

MANAGEMENT CONSTRAINTS Much of the area is heavily degraded and local activities are largely uncontrolled. Forest fires affected 1,364ha in 1984-1985. Colonization by the weed Lantana camera is becoming a problem (Singh et al., 1990).