This work on the ¿Survey and Mapping of Commercially Important Medicinal Plants in the State of Uttarakhand¿ was initiated in the month of February 2008. It was a collaborative work between Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Uttarakhand Forest Department (UKFD), funded by the Government of Uttarakhand. The Major objectives of the work was as follows: (i) To quantify the availability of commercially important medicinal plants in various Forest Ranges of Uttarakhand; (ii) To generate a spatial database on the distribution and abundance of medicinal plants for future monitoring and conservation planning; (iii) To evolve strategies for sustainable harvest of medicinal and aromatic plants.

Dr. Umesh Tiwari has around 10 years of working experience in the field of Angiosperm Taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Conservation and Ecology of plants. He has a fair knowledge of the flora as well as medicinal plants of Indian subcontinent and he is capable of identifying any given plant from any phytogeographical regions of India.