Forest range

A forest range is a term used to define administrative regions containing one or more (usually) demarcated and (usually) protected or resource-managed forests.¹ The term was in use in British India, and hence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh use this term for administrative purposes.²

In India, the combined forests in a forest division are completely divided into non-overlapping forest ranges for the purpose of administration and coordination, in an analogous form of dividing the political area of a subdivision into blocks. Alignment of the ranges to political boundaries is not necessary, as forests often overlap political boundaries - but one range cannot span more than one state.³

Each range controls the protected areas and managed resources under its jurisdiction, and is presided over by a Forest Range Officer.¹ A forest range may be broken up into one or more 'sub-ranges' or 'blocks'.¹³Each forest range has many forest beats within its jurisdictional area.⁴