Kas Plateau Reserved Forest

Kaas Plateau
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Kaas Plateau
Kaas Plateau
Location	Satara, Maharashtra, India
Nearest city	Satara, Pune, Kolhapur
Coordinates	17°43′12″N 73°49′22″E / 17.72000°N 73.82278°E / 17.72000; 73.82278
Area	10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)
Governing body	Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India
www.kas.ind.in
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Natural Properties - Western Ghats (India)
Type	Natural
Criteria	ix, x
Designated	2012 (36th session)
Reference no.	1342
Region	Indian subcontinent

The Kas Plateau Reserved Forest, also known as the Kaas Pathar, is a plateau situated 25 kilometres west from Satara city in Maharashtra, India.^[1] It falls under the Sahyadri Sub Cluster of the Western Ghats, and it became a part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012.^[2][3]

It is a biodiversity hotspot known for various types of seasonal wild flowers bloom and numerous species of endemic butterflies annually in the months of August and September.^[3] The plateau is situated at an altitude of 1200 metres and is approximately 10 square kilometers in area. Kaas has more than 850 different species of flowering plants. These include orchids, shrubs such as the Karvy, and carnivorous plants such as Drosera Indica. Kaas Pathar is a plateau made from volcanic rocks in the Satara district of Maharashtra, and comes under the biosphere of the Western Ghats. The flora of kaas i.e. the entire flowering plants and their related plants are typically restricted to that particular locality only. This is because the plateau is largely formed of basalt which is directly exposed to atmosphere. The basalt is almost covered entirely by a thin cover of soil formed due to erosion and has accumulated a layer of not more than 25 mm or so.