The has declared the Mahendragiri hill in Gajapati district as a Biodiversity Heritage Site in order to preserve its habitats which are rich in plant and animal lives. ACS Forest, Environment and Climate-change”>Climate Change (FE and CC) Mona Sharma has issued a detailed notification in this regard.
The Government has been pleased to declare an area of 4,250 hectares (ha) of Mahendragiri covering two reserve forests (Idongiri and Mahendra) in the district of Gajapati under forest division of Parlakhemundi as the second Biodiversity Heritage Site of Odisha,
The hill ecosystem acts as a transitional zone between Flora and Fauna of Western Ghats and the Himalayan bio-geographic zones making the region an ecological estuary of genetic diversities. A total of 1,358 species of Plants including 1,042 species of angiosperms under 122 families, 60 species of pteridophytes, 104 species of bryophytes, 53 species of lichens and 72 species of macro-Fungi and two species of gymnosperms occurring in the hill ecosystem.In terms of botanically curious plants, 44 species of orchids, 8 species of insectivorous plants and more than 300 species of medicinal plants are found here.