Regional Context
Being located at the cusp of multiple cultures, Kalimpong has a rich cultural heritage influenced by British Colonial, Bhutanese and Hindu cultures, and the regional tribes, contributing to a perfectly balanced amalgamation of architecture, food and lifestyle. This amalgamation has led to the formation of Kalimpong’s unique culture.
Land Usage Map of Kalimpong.
The land use in the study area mainly includes agricultural activities, tea and medicinal plant plantations, construction works along with forests, rivers, jhoras, etc. From a general concept, it is true that forest as a whole reduces the degradation of slopes due to landslide processes, but deforestation cause rapid disintegration of the rocks, a phenomenon very common to the mid-slope region which are gradually encroached by human being.
Relief Map of Kalimpong.
The study area may be broadly divided into two regions. These are the valley regions (below 400 m.) and the mountain region (above 1000 m). It may be noted here that the mountain region can classify into three zones, these are low mountain zone(less than 1000 m), Medium Mountain zone (between 1000 m to 2000 m) and high mountain zone (above 2000 m to 3000 m).
Forest Cover Map of Kalimpong.
The Kalimpong division comprises the reserved forests situated on the mountain slopes to the east of Teesta River, where they form a continuous belt extending round that portion of the area. East of Chel river, they extend northwards up to the frontiers of Sikkim and Bhutan. West of that river, they extend in a narrow strip along the southern boundary of the district westward as far as the Teesta, and then northwards up the left bank of that river to where the Rangpo constitutes the frontier of Sikkim.
