College of Forestry Ponnampet (UAS Bangalore)

College of Forestry Ponnampet is under the Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (KSNUAHS) Shivamogga, located in Ponnampet in the Kodagu district. It is one of the few dedicated forestry colleges in South India and serves students from the Western Ghats region. The college offers BSc Forestry and MSc Forestry programmes. The Kodagu location is one of the most ecologically significant in India — the district is part of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot and is surrounded by Nagarhole National Park, Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. Students at the College of Forestry Ponnampet get direct field training in tropical forest ecosystems, wildlife conservation, non-timber forest product management, and carbon sequestration research that students at urban colleges cannot access. The curriculum covers silviculture, forest management, timber technology, watershed management, wildlife conservation, and social forestry. Students participate in forest survey camps, wildlife census activities, and biodiversity documentation projects in the Kodagu forest zones. KCET is required for BSc Forestry admission. Graduates work with the Karnataka Forest Department as forest range officers and beat forest officers, with NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority), ICAR-CAFRI, and environmental NGOs. The college is part of KSNUAHS which also runs the Master's programme in Forestry. Hostel available on campus.