Landmarks on the Chipko trail
1973
• Chipko is born when villagers of Mandal, near Gopeshwar, led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt and the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal, stop contractors of an Allahabad-based sports goods company, Symonds, from felling 14 ash trees on April 24.
• In December, villagers again stop Symonds agents at the Phata-Rampur forests, about 60 km from Gopeshwar.
1974
• Women of Reni, led by Gaura Devi, prevent agents of a Rishikesh contractor, Jagmohan Bhalla, from entering the Peng Murenda forest on March 26.
• On May 25, student leaders Shamser Singh Bist, Shekhar Pathak, Kumar Prasun and Pratap Shikhar lead a youth group on a 44-day march from Askot near the Indo-Nepalese border to Arakot in Himachal Pradesh, to draw attention to the pitiable conditions of forest labourers, to the need to protect trees from exploitation by outsiders and to set up industries locally.
• Villagers around the Vyali forest near Uttarkashi, led by Communist Party of India leader Kamlaram Nautiyal, who heads the Uttarkashi municipality now, stop trees from being felled between July and October.
1974
• Chipko is introduced in the Kumaon region with forest auctions being opposed by the Parvatiya Van Bachao Sangharsh Samity, a youth organisation. The arrest of 18 youths, including Bist and socialist leader Bipin Tripathi, at a Nainital protest provokes demonstrations throughout Kumaon.
1977
• Landslides in Tawaghat near the Indo-Nepalese border kill 45 persons and 75 cattle. Protests against auctions are intensified by activists of the newly formed Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini, with which Bhatt is associated.
• The first forest auction at Shailley Hall in Nainital on October 6 is postponed. • A second attempt to hold the auction on November 28 sparks a demonstration and several arrests are made. Miscreants set Nainital Club ablaze and police firing injures 25 persons, including children.
• Chipko activists organise villagers in Tehri Garhwal to protest felling in Henwal valley and the Advani and Salet forests in December. Dhoom Singh Negi, a student leader of Jajal, symbolically hugs five trees in Salet, but each time he is pushed away by the contractor's men.
1977-78
• Women of Pulna village in Bhyunder valley block tree-felling.
• A 40-day struggle led by Bipin Tripathi begins on January 21 in the Chanchridhar forest near Dwarahat, an area exploited since the 1950s by the Saharanpur-based Star Paper Mill.
• Volunteers are arrested on March 23 for opposing a forest auction at Narendranagar in Tehri Garhwal.
• Protests are staged against felling in the Badyargarh forests in Tehri on December 25.
1979
• Sunderlal Bahuguna begins a hunger strike on January 9 to protest proposed felling in Badyargarh.
• Contractors withdraw from Badyargarh and Bahuguna is released from jail on January 31.
1980
• Women from Doongri-Paintoli prevent the state horticulture department from felling an oak forest so as to start a farm.
1981
• In April, Bahuguna begins another fast, demanding a complete ban on green felling above 1,000 m in the Himalaya. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sets up an expert committee and its report leads to a 15-year moratorium on commercial felling in the Uttarakhand Himalaya.
1984-85
• Women from Bacher, near Gopeshwar, wanting to prevent soil erosion and protect their sources of firewood, stop the Van Nigam (forest corporation) from felling dead trees in neighbouring forests