The General Forest administration of the State of Bihar is in charge of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) & Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Bihar whose headquarters is at Patna. The PCCF (HoFF) functions as the Head of the Department and is responsible for the working of the Forest Administration as a whole.
In his functions, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests will be assisted by the Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (Development) and three Additional Principal Chief Conservators of Forests viz Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden; Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Working Plan, Training & Extension and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, CAMPA & Nodal Officer, Forest Conservation; 8 Chief Conservator of Forests (CCFs) viz., Regional CCF – Patna, Muzaffarpur & Bhagalpur, CCF- Administration & Human Resource Development, CCF- Information Technology, Director – Ecology and Environment, Director – Hariyali mission, CCF – Joint Forest Management; 10 Conservator of Forests CFs) viz., CF-cum-Field Director, Valmiki Tiger Reserve, West Champaran, Bettiah; CF – Working Plan, Wildlife, CF-cum-Additional Director – Hariyali Mission – North Bihar and South Bihar, CF – Siwan, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Patna; 34 Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) in various districts in the state.
The Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (Development) looks after the drawing of schemes and managing the schemes under plan head. The PCCF (HoFF) manages the non-plan budget in the department. The Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden is the statutory authority as per Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 to manage and control the wildlife issues and to manage the wildlife sanctuaries in the state. The Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Working Plan, Training & Extension and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests is responsible for the drawing up of working plans for the territorial forest divisions to manage the forests based on scheme of approved activities after the approval from the regional office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GoI. The wildlife sanctuaries are managed as per the approved management plans, similarly the Valmiki Tiger Reserve is managed as per the approved Tiger Conservation Plan.
The State is divided into four Regions viz, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Wildlife Region. The structural diagram of each region showing their administrative set up has been shown on the organogram of the department under the title ‘structure of the organisation’.
A Forest Circle is a group of “forest divisions”. The administrative charge of a Forest Circle is held by a Conservator of Forests, the charge of a Forest Division is held by a Divisional Forest Officer/ Deputy Conservator of Forests based on the pay-scale of the concerned officer holding the charge of the forest division. Group of Forest Ranges form a Forest Division. A Forest Division may comprise of one or more districts. The DFO/DCF is assisted by the Assistant Conservator of Forests - ACF (Class – I). Forest Ranges and Forest Beats are ordinarily held by Forest Range Officers and the Foresters (or Forest Beat Officer) respectively – while the charge of a sub-beat is held by a Forest Guard.
There are 13 wildlife sanctuaries, I National Park (Valmiki National Park), 1 Tiger Reserve (Valmiki Tiger Reserve) and 1 Zoo (Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Patna) in the state. Apart from various wild animals found in the wildlife sanctuaries there are numerous species of wild animals found free ranging in various districts in the state, making Bihar one of the rich bio diverse (biodiversity) state in the country. Sal, Shisham, Gamhar, Teak are the major timber species found in the state. The territorial forests are managemend as per the approved ‘Forest Working Plan’.