Illegal logging widespread
Illegal logging widespread
Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda
The sound of chain saws was very load. Mustarmin, 37, and his
four colleagues immediately scampered away from a big tree as it
crashed into small trees around it. After a few moments, the
loggers returned to work, finding other big trees to fell. "After
felling large trees, we'll cut them into smaller pieces to make
it easier to take them out of the dense forest," he said.
Heavy rain has not discouraged the illegal loggers from
felling trees in the Bukit (Hill) Soeharto forest in Kutai
Kartanegara regency, East Kalimantan. The condition is perfect
for eluding forest rangers. "The heavier it rains, the safer we
are from being caught," said Mustarmin.
Another effective way used by illegal loggers is to fell trees
far from residential areas where it is easy to escape the
attention of forest rangers.
He said that the illegal timber trade was promising because
there was hardly any overhead and the price of timber was high.
One cubic meter of legally felled timber can reach Rp 1.5 million
(US$150). "We sell illegal timber for Rp 1.2 million at the
most," said Mustarmin.
The forest has not only been damaged by illegal logging, but
also by land clearance by residents wanting to grow secondary
crops and banana trees. Only tall grass can be found along the
main road, except for a few trees that have been spared the axe.
The 61,860-hectare Bukit Soeharto forest is located along the
main highway between Balikpapan, Samarinda and Kutai Kartanegara.
The forest is also a research site for Mulawarman University's
forestry school.
However, its gradually being deforested. Logs are scattered on
the roadside. New trees, 25 cm in diameter, which previously
lined the road, have been hacked down.
Forest destruction and illegal logging in East Kalimantan have
been categorized as alarming. The East Kalimantan Police seized
18,600 cubic meters of timber and handled 30 illegal logging
cases in 2004. They probed 34 such cases in 2003.
In one case in West Kutai in early October 2005, 30,000 cubic
meters, or 6,575 logs, were seized by the East Kalimantan
Military Command. The police have named three timber financiers
from East Kalimantan as suspects.
The executive director of the East Kalimantan Forum for the
Environment (Walhi), Syafruddin, said the Bukit Soeharto forest
was in a dismal state, and hardly represented the gateway to the
province.
Besides damage from rampant illegal logging and land
clearance, forest destruction in the area is also caused by
mining activities.
"In the dry season, residents clear land with fire. This has
gone on unabated," he said.
He noted that around 85 percent of the forested area had been
damaged and a further 15 percent was in an alarming state. He
claimed that the government did not realize that the floods in
Samarinda and Kutai Kartanegara were due to deforestation.
He said the government and police should be held
responsibility for the matter, because the conservation forest is
overseen by the central government.
The central government, provincial administration and the
police appear to be making no attempt to protect the forest,
since deforestation is still taking place at an alarming rate.