Extensive harvesting of plant and animal products from natural ecosystems is one of the principal causes of the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems. In India, as elsewhere, millions of people derive their livelihoods by harvesting a wide variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from the ecosystem. Although local communities had some sort of monitoring programs in place to estimate production and harvest levels, such systems are gradually breaking down with increasing commercialization and the loss of local control over resources. We initiated a program of participatory resource monitoring (PRM) with the Soligas, the indigenous people of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary, as part of an effort to develop models of sustainable use of forest resources (Bawa, 1999). A detailed description of BRT is available in Ramesh (1989) and Hegde el al. (1996). The Soligas derive almost half their income from NTFPs (Lele el al., unpublished data). Of the various products that the Soligas harvest, the most important are Phyllanlhus emblica and P. indojischeri (collectively known as 'amla'), and honey from Apis dorsala, or rock bees.