Thalli village is located at a distance of 45 km from Shimla town in the Karsog Taluka of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh.

The landscape can be described as a typically Middle Himalayan mountainous region with forests having species like khair, Poplar or safeda, deodar, daru haridra, kakkad, khirik or toon, simbal, amla and sissoo. Amongst the fauna, jungle fowl and the Rhesus macaque are found here. The legal status of these forests is demarcated protected forest.

The dominant communities of the village are the rajputs, brahmins and banias. Besides these communities, the scheduled castes like kolis and chamars also live here. The total human population is 450. The main sources of income are agriculture, service and wage labor. The community depends on the forest for grass fodder, fuelwood, biomass and for material required for fencing. The total livestock population is 240 cows, 40 buffaloes, 30 sheep, 100 goats and 25 mules and horses. The villagers have legal rights for all households to fodder, grazing, fuelwood, timber, biomass and medicinal plants in the forest.

There exists a general representative body for forest management, which meets irregularly, mostly when decisions about distribution and allocation of fodder have to be taken. The women are still very active in the protection and management of the forest

For the protection of forests, some rules were established, which include:

1. Complete closure for grazing in the designated area.

2. Fodder to be collected only on specified days decided in a village general meeting.

3. Fodder to be collected in groups only and only one bundle of grass to be taken per family per day.

The protection of the forest has ensured that fodder scarcity does not exist in the village any longer. Closure to grazing for almost ten years has resulted in spectacular regeneration with many species returning to the area.

The Government of Himachal Pradesh decided to include Thalli village in the joint forest management scheme (JFM). As part of the micro-plans, construction of several bawdis (traditional water-harvesting structures) was proposed. However the villagers and the forest department got into a dispute over the constitution of the JFM committee. This has led to JFM here being a totally non-participatory process. This has created hostility between the people and the FD.