The study area We purposively selected Satchari National Park (Satchari NP) for the study considering its unique geo-physical features and rich biological diversity. The park is newest among the eighteen protected areas (PAs) of Bangladesh and one among the four PAs of northern Bangladesh (Mukul et al. 2006). From various literatures it is evident that the park has been supported more than 241 species of local and exotic flora. Although, the area was previously classified as moist evergreen forest, but the large-scale conversion of the indigenous forest cover to plantations has changed it to just 200 ha of natural forest (Choudhury et al. 2004); the rest is secondary (raised plantation) forest.
The area of the park is about 243 ha which comprised the forests of Raghunandan Hills Reserve Forests within the Satchari Range. Administratively, the park is located in the Chunarughat Upazilla (sub-district) of Habiganj District and is situated nearly 130 km north- east of Dhaka. The Raghunandan Hill Reserve borders the park on its north-western part while India lies on the southern part of the park (Figure 1). Other adjacent areas are covered by tea estates, rubber gardens, agar plantations and paddy fields.
The topography of the park is undulating with slopes and hillocks, locally called tilla, ranging from 10 to 50 m in elevation. A number of small, sandy-bedded streams drain the forest, all of which dry out in the winter dry season after November. The total annual average rainfall is 4,162 mm. July is the wettest month having an average of about 1,250 mm of rain, while December is the driest with no rainfall. May and October, the hottest months, have an average maximum temperature around 320C, while January is the coldest month when the minimum temperature drops to about 120C. The relative humidity of the area is about 74% during December while it is over 90% during July-August (Choudhury et al. 2004).
Brief summary of community livelihoods in the area A total of 19 villages having varied degree of interests with the Satchari NP have so far been identified. Of them, one village is located within the national park area, which is inhabited by a tribal community, the ethnic Tripura tribe. The other settlements that have stakes with the national park are located about 3-8 km away from the park. Local people have traditionally collected various resources from the Satchari NP and adjacent reserve forest. Many households, particularly poor households from the surrounding villages, rely entirely or partially on the national park for collecting fuelwood, timber, bamboo and natural remedies.
We interviewed 103 households living in and outside villages of the national park. Respondents were selected randomly from four villages having different stakes with the park. The villages were also selected randomly from each of the first four forest dependency categories as identified by Mollah et al. (2004), including the only village inside the park—Tiprapara. Any villages with only minor dependency on the park were not selected.
We conducted intensive household surveys in our four sample villages— Tiprapara, Ratanpur, Deorgach and Goachnagar—from mid-February to late June, 2006. Before household survey some random field visits were arranged on the edge of this conservation area with local age old and resource person to assess and note the available MPs in the locality, specimens were collected in case of unidentified species.
In Tiprapara, we took a 100% sample, as villagers were highly dependent on the park for their subsistence. In other sample villages we took a 10% sample of households. During the course of the household survey participant group meetings were conducted and semistructured interviews were undertaken with members of the participating households to provide additional information regarding our field of interests.
For data collection we used a semistructured questionnaire where the details about the MPs collected, their traditional usage, parts used for treating various ailments, sources of collection and the ethnomedicinal preparation were recorded. Additional data were also gathered on the market potential of MPs.