Caption: Date: 1968-04 Location: Birendranagar, Surkhet Description: View of the bare outline of a road in the planned town of Birendranagar leading from an area near the airport north towards the base of the hill trail that leads to Dailekh. As the town was built up, the forests on the hillsides were chopped down for wood to build the houses. Since that time, following construction of a motor road from Nepalganj, Birendranagar has become of city of more than 25,000. During the time of the city’s rapid growth, the hillside above it has become a managed watershed of a forest of planted white pine that protect the rain runoff collected in a large reservoir for the city’s water. A one-lane unpaved road has also since been constructed to reach Dailekh after mounting to the top of the hill in the distance. Keywords: Alan Fairbank, Nepal Photo History Project, Peace Corp Photo History, countryside, landscape, road building, trail repair, transportation
