This village is located at a distance of 10 km from Sagar on the Sagar-Honnavar road and is adjacent to the Bangalore-Honnavar highway. The village has a bus stop in the vicinity and the railway station is 3 kilometers away in Talguppa. 

The village houses approximately 120 families with a population of nearly 700 people. The traditional form of housing of tiled roofs is distinct. Agriculture is the major occupation, with secondary occupations like trading, and service. The important crops grown here are arecanut, coconut, paddy, sugarcane, groundnut and banana. The village has a primary school for children which is located at a distance of 1 km from the village and a high school which is located at a distance of 3 km from the village. 

Forest type around the village is moist deciduous to semi-evergreen. Geographically the terrain includes gently sloping forest hills. The villagers practice conservation in about 40 ha of the forest since it is considered sacred by the local villagers. Locally, this sacred grove is called adergudde. Major species present in the forest include hunal, matti, honne, nandi, sandalwood and bamboo.

Forest conservation efforts in this village were inspired by the similar efforts being carried out by the neighbouring village Hunsur Kanu. About 16 years ago the villagers of Shiroor Alalli decided to give full protection to the adergudde area. The adergudde area was almost a degraded land due to exhaustive logging activity, timber smuggling and forest resource exploitation. The villagers then set up a committee called Alalli Gramabhivruddhi Samiti (AGS) to protect the area. The committee has formulated some rules and regulations that are strictly practiced till date.

Forest conservation efforts in this village were inspired by the similar efforts being carried out by the neighbouring village Hunsur Kanu. About 16 years ago the villagers of Shiroor Alalli decided to give full protection to the adergudde area. The adergudde area was almost a degraded land due to exhaustive logging activity, timber smuggling and forest resource exploitation. The villagers then set up a committee called Alalli Gramabhivruddhi Samiti (AGS) to protect the area. The committee has formulated some rules and regulations that are strictly practiced till date.

The villagers set up a committee called Alalli Gramabhivruddhi Samiti (AGS) to protect the area. The committee has formulated some rules and regulations that are strictly practiced till date. 

The decisions have been worked out and are being implemented entirely by the village. There is no involvement of NGOs or any other external body in the initiative.

The committee has formulated some rules and regulations that are strictly practiced till date. These include: 

1. Prohibition against cutting of green trees and collection of green leaves. 

2. Dry leaves from the forest can only be brought by headload. 

3. Fuelwood from this forest can be collected only twice a year and use of any vehicle to transport it is prohibited. 

4. A fine ranging from Rs 25-400 is levied on those accused of cutting trees or collecting green leaves, depending upon the degree of the offence. 

5. Outsiders to the village are restricted from free entry into the conserved area.

The marked conserved area is offered effective protection by the villagers. Subsequent to the protection the area exhibits good vegetation canopy mostly with young trees. The money obtained from the penalty claimed by the committee from offenders is redirected towards village development activities. Additionally, because of greater availability, villagers’ need for fuelwood and dry leaves is being partly met from these forests. The evident output towards protection of the sacred grove area has won the AGS an award from the state government.

Villagers strongly feel that conservation efforts in the sacred grove are putting pressure on the forest resources that lie outside the sacred grove’s boundaries. With an increase in people’s needs, their requirements are regularly being met by consuming resources from these surrounding forests.

This case study indicates that when protecting an area for the sake of religious sentiments did not work, regulated use of the resources for meeting basic requirements actually led towards conservation efforts. However, in the initial years of protection, the pressure on the surrounding forests increased. But in the long run regeneration of resources will only help reduce that pressure.