Congratulations to our PhD student, Sarika Khanwilkar!
Sarika was named a 2019-2020 U.S. Fulbright Student to India. Her research aims to quantify the potential recovery of forests from recently-introduced programs that reduce fuelwood demand and collection.
Sarika’s Fulbright project involves two main components, vegetation and household surveys for research and community engagement, and will take place in human settlements and forest surrounding Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharasha, India. After data collection at each study site, Sarika will host a village-wide event. In partnership with Jackson Wild, she will showcase films from the United Nations’ International Big Cat Film Festival. In addition, she will show Tigers and Chandrapur, a film made by TRACT based on communities in fringe forests of TATR, and lead youth in educational activities based on the film. The activities have been developed by Felicita Wight, Allie Erickson, Johanna Jensen, Maria Mills, and Elizabeth Bonert, who are volunteers with Wild Tiger.