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Soil loss due to erosion has a huge impact on worldwide economy and environment. Himalayan region is extremely vulnerable to erosion due to rugged terrain, erratic precipitation and excessive anthropogenic pressures. This study attempts to assess the spatial distribution of soil loss for managing soil disintegration rates in the western Himalayas using GIS modeling approach. Factors affecting soil erosion were assessed and mapped using primary data from the field and secondary data. Map layers were developed for each identified factors and modeled using weighted overlay analysis. The rainfall-runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, topographic, cover management and support parameters varied around 361.75 MJ mm/ha/h/yr, (0.024 - 0.051) t ha h/ha/MJ/mm, 0 to 585.372, 0 to 1 and 0 to 1 respectively. The yearly soil disintegration rate varied between 0 and 6098.44 t ha/yr. The maximum area (137165.30 ha) of the district’s total area (146295.142 ha) was under the less vulnerable class and the minimum (259.92 ha) was under the severely vulnerable category. The findings reported 70.24% of the area was under the less vulnerable class, followed by extremely vulnerable (10.48%) > highly vulnerable (7.40%) > severely vulnerable (7.19%) > moderately vulnerable (4.69%). The maximum (810 t/ha) and minimum (15 t/ha) mean soil loss was found under severely vulnerable and less vulnerable categories. The findings will provide site specific data regarding soil loss and vulnerability for effective management of soils in the eco-sensitive region.

The regeneration status of bhojpatra or Himalayan birch (Betula utilis D. Don) was assessed in the two forest divisions of Kashmir with the major focus on regeneration status pertaining to the poor recruitment and seedling establishment in north western Himalayas along the different altitudinal gradient. The regeneration in both the forest divisions was poor and decreased further with increasing altitude but did not show any definite trend along the altitudinal gradient. Density-diameter and regeneration success curve for Betula utilis was not continuous and displayed typical reverse J-shaped structure depicting un-sustainable regeneration success along the altitude. Density of recruits was greater than the density of seedlings (un-established regeneration) indicating anthropogenic interference in terms of grazing and lopping of mature trees for fodder and other uses. The overall regeneration successes varied between 3.38-10.95% on south eastern aspect and 4.47 to 11.16% on south western aspect in Sindh forest division and between 4.84-11.53% in Tangmarg forest division. The diversity index (H/) Betula utilis decreased within the upper diameter classes with maximum diversity in lower diameter (0-25 cm). The correlation between soil parameters, viz. pH, EC, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus depicted the significant positive as well as negative trends with regeneration parameters.