ABSTRACT
The colonial intervention with the forests of Assam is marked by an important breakthrough in the evolution of modern forest policy in the province. But the colonial state till 1900 had no concrete notion about the protection of nature and wildlife, rather it viewed it only as a source of revenue and entertainment. Even after the establishment of reserve forests, the killing or the hunting process did not cease. The ethnographic writings of the colonial officials in the nineteenth century reveals rather an opposite picture as both the nature and environment were situated as unending reserves even after the wastelands settlements and repeated flow of immigration. Forest also became at one hand an obstacle to the notion of Western progress and at the same time an instrument to display British masculinity to the natives. The Colonial Forest Policy guided by the notions of power was instrumental in large-scale deforestation and killing of innumerable wild animals. This has long-term impact in the ecology of the province.
