Forest fires threaten research center<\/p>\n
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): The spreading forest fires
\nin the Kutai National Park near here are threatening a rare
\nspecies research center, an official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Warsito, the head of the national park located 180 kilometers
\nnorth of here, told The Jakarta Post that the fires had been
\nspreading fast despite the efforts of park rangers and the local
\ncommunity to contain them.<\/p>\n
"The fires are sporadic and to date we have only been able to
\nextinguish the one burning in the Malawan village," he said.<\/p>\n
The rare species research center is located in Teluk Kaba
\nvillage near the 320 hectares of land and forest that had been
\naffected since Tuesday, Warsito said.<\/p>\n
Warsito said that if the research center and its surroundings
\nwere razed, the country would suffer a huge loss because many
\nrare animal and plant species could be found in the park.<\/p>\n
Other villages in the 10,000-hectare forest national park that
\nare affected are Temputu, Teluk Dalam, Sangatta, and Teluk Pandan
\nwhere a total of 1,002 hectares of agricultural land and forest
\nhave been destroyed.<\/p>\n
The Kutai National Park is in the Kutai regency. The nearby
\nregency town is Bontang, one of the country's main gas producers.
\nYesterday, the town was shrouded in smoke from the forest fires
\nin the park, Warsito said.<\/p>\n
Flights to and from Bontang were disrupted yesterday. Land
\ntransport from Bontang to Sangatta was also disrupted for two
\nhours because roads were littered with branches from the forest
\nfire, he added.<\/p>\n
Warsito said fires had also affected the Bontang forest
\nreserve in the regency. However, he could not say how many
\nhectares had been affected.<\/p>\n
"But one thing for sure is that fires are raging in an area
\nfrom Kilometer 10 to Kilometer 19 (along the Samarinda-Bontang
\nhighway) with a three-kilometer depth from the highway," he said.<\/p>\n
Warsito said joint efforts to fight fires with only several
\nfire brigade trucks were not proving that effective, adding that
\nother measures including digging ditches to stop the fires
\nspreading were already being taken.<\/p>\n
The fires forced the Tanjungpura Military Command to move its
\narsenal from Karang Joang village to Batu Ampar Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Two separate fires were burning near Karang Joang village, 15
\nkilometers east of Balikpapan. Batu Ampar is 10 kilometers away
\nfrom Balikpapan, officials said.<\/p>\n
According to satellite imaging from the U.S. National Oceanic
\nand Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday, 40 hot spots
\nwere visible in the province.<\/p>\n
The Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) here
\nsuspects the recent fires, many of which are in plantations and
\nlogging concessions are man-made. (42\/aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/forest-fires-threaten-research-center-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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