The Suttimungalam Forest Taluk and corresponding Forest Range was under the charge of the District Forest Officer, Coimbatore. The head-quarters of the range officer was at Cusbah or Head-quarter Station Suttimaungalam (Sathyamangalam in Tamil) Suttimangalam range was guarded by 1 Forestor who was at Jalamllay, Suttimungalam with 8 Guards. Patches of Sandalwood Reserves were notified under the Indian Forests Act, 1927. The Sathyamangalam Forest Division is part of the Bramhagiri-Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats Elephant Reserve notified in 2003. Sathyamangalam Forest Division was declared a wildlife sanctuary with effect from 3 November 2008 by the Government of Tamil Nadu as per the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972. In 2008, the Government of Karnataka sent a proposal to declare the contiguous Billigiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve which was subsequently approved in 2010. In a wildlife survey conducted by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2010, 46 tigers were sighted in the Sathyamangalam forest area. In July 2010, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh requested the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to consider the possibility of proposing the Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuary as a Project Tiger tiger reserve as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 as the area is contiguous with the forests of Bandipur and Mudumalai tiger reserves. On 1 April 2010, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced that it would initiate action to declare the sanctuary as a tiger reserve because of the consistent sighting of tigers in the forest area and the tiger reserve declaration would strengthen wildlife conservation efforts, as the sanctuary managers will get more financial support from the central government and the Government of India may also provide support to appoint an additional anti-poaching watchers and fund the establishment of anti-poaching camps.