Reforesting Orangutan Wildlife Reserve
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Orangutans, Reforestation, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 04 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation
Recently I accompanied a logistic run to one of our guard posts, Pos Danau Burung (or Bird Lake Guard Post - where the the recent fires were), in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.
Getting supplies to Pos Danau Burung
We also had a surprise for them - lots of cake, from our previous meeting with government officials at nearby town of Sukamara. They were very happy with the impromptu tea!
Post Danau Burung also happens to be one of our plant nurseries for reforestation at the Reserve. Our Reforestation Manager, Pak Isem, recently bought more seedlings from local villagers, totalling to about 20 different indigenous species of plants, including fruiting trees that will eventually help feed the orangutans and other wildlife in Lamandau.
As you can see from the photos, the seedlings are doing very well. Currently, we are waiting for the wet season so we can plant these seedlings.
As well, we do need your support to help run our various programmes in Lamandau. With only US$15, you ensure that our field assistants are well-equipped. A donation of US$30 strengthens morale in our camps, with staff uniforms. Take a look at our donation box, and see what you would like to support! Thank you very much Matthew K, Brigitta S and Tal B for your monthly donations.
Thank you,
June
Tags: Borneo, conservation, forests, Orangutans, Reforestation
Fire Fighting - Just a Duty or Dedication?
Category: Forest Fires, Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Uncategorized | Date: May 26 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation
Last week the Central Kalimantan Agency for Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA) held motivation training sessions for their Forest Fire Brigade. They asked Orangutan Foundation staff to facilitate with this after the dedication they showed when tackling the recent fires that broke out in Sungai Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.
Pak Eko Novi, the Head of BKSDA SKW II Kalimantan Tengah, awarded a Manggala Agni (Forest Fire Brigade) Pin, to our staff at Danau Burung Post (Bird Lake Guard Post) because of their dedication and participation in tackling the fires.
Isam represented other KPEL (Partnership for Local Economic Development) staff (Sias, Amat, Fendy, Aris dan Jakir) at the award ceremony. It is hoped the award will help motivate other staff, BKSDA staff and the local community to have more responsibility and participation concerning the conservation of the Sungai Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.
At last week’s training session we aimed to build team cohesion and lift the spirits of the Forest Fire Brigade. We hope it will instill a sense of honour and the brigade will feel proud about their duties and their job. Fire fighting is not just a “job” but is “dedication” for nature conservation.
Pak Hudi leading the motivation and team building session.
The team building and motivation sessions included various games:
Carry a Bomb. Each team must carry a bottle (as a bomb) with limited tools from one place to a target. The aim is to encourage teamwork, strategy, and role distribution within the team.
Courier. Each team must deliver a message (a stick) from one place to another place only using their neck’s. This game has aim to build team work, strategy and the “quick think” response.
O-O Game. A pair of participants must save themselves from plastic rope that binds their hands. This game has the aim to build problem solving strategy.
Thank you,
Pak Hudi
Programme Coordinator, Orangutan Foundation UK
Tags: Forest Fires, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Foundation
Fire breakout near border of Wildlife Reserve
Category: Forest Fires, Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Foundation Staff, Uncategorized | Date: May 13 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation
At the end of April, there was another fire breakout, near the Pos Danau Burung (or Bird Lake Post) that borders the western section of Sungai Lamandau Reserve.
Map showing Bird Lake Post on the Reserve Border.
Thankfully, at that time, our Programme Coordinator, Pak Hudi, was visiting the area with the Section Head (II) of the Central Kalimantan Agency for Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA), Pak Eko Novi. Along with our ever-ready Patrol Manager, Pak Jak, they raced to assist our field staff at Pos Danau Burung.
Field staff from Pos Danau Burung who made up the fire-fighting team
Face to face with the fire wall
Trying to stop the fire - forest in the background
Caught unaware they had to grab whatever was at hand to beat the fire.
They slogged to beat out the fires for many hours under the hot sun. We appreciate the hard work of our field staff, whose primary role is to replant the western part of the Reserve but would not hesistate to switch roles as fire-fighters when needed.
Tears for nature - tired and emotional.
Pak Eko Novi was also very appreciative of our staff’s dedication that he organized a special ceremony for the field staff, in which he presented pins from the Fire-Fighting section (Manggala Agni) of BKSDA Section II. It was truly an honour, and much appreciated!
It does not stop there for our hard-working Programme Coordinator, Pak Hudi. Today (13th May), under a special invitation from Pak Eko Novi, he will be giving a team-building exercise for the Fire-fighting team of BKSDA Section II, Central Kalimantan.
Hopefully, we will have a post from Pak Hudi himself about this experience!
Thanks,
June
Programmes Manager
Tags: Borneo, Fires, Indonesia, Orangutan Foundation, Wildlife Reserve
Orangutan gaining weight
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Lamdandau Vet, Orangutans, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 14 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation
Dr. Fikri, our new vet who works specifically for the released orangutans in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, put orangutan Zidane on a special weight gain diet last month. We are happy to tell you that Zidane has gained 3 kg and he is getting stronger each day.
Our on-going protection for Lamandau continues with regular patrols, and this month, the patrol team led by Pak Jak (Patrol Manager of Lamandau Ecosystem Conservation Partnership) installed billboards on all the Lamandau guard posts to help enforce no-burning in the Reserve. (This short update was sent by June Rubis, who is taking over from Stephen this month)
Matthew K, thanks as always for your monthly donation.
Many thanks,
Cathy - Orangutan Foundation
Camp Buluh - Orangutan Release Camp
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine, Orangutans, Rehabilitation, Uncategorized | Date: Feb 12 2009 | By: orangutanfoundation
Camp Buluh is one of six orangutan release camps in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Since September 2006, 13 ex-captive orangutans have been reintroduced at Camp Buluh and three wild orangutans have been translocated from vulnerable situations outside the reserve.
Omang, one of the ex-captive adolescent male orangutans, seen regularly around Camp Buluh.
After the incident with Zidane (an update to follow soon) an orangutan holding cage has been built at Camp Buluh. This is necessary to allow the care and treatment of orangutans in Lamandau.
Camp Buluh and the orangutan holding cage.
The future for the orangutans in Lamandau looks encouraging. The Forestry Department’s involvement has increased and the reserve’s protection has been strengthened. The new guard post, called “Bird Lake Post” that was constructed to prevent access to into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve via the Buluh River became operational at the end of December. In 2008, only 3 cases of illegal logging were discovered, all outside of the reserve border. This is down from 2007 when 12 cases were identified in and around the reserve.
Map showing Camp Buluh and the guard posts in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve
We are extremely grateful to the Australian Orangutan Project for their continued support in Lamandau.
Tags: Borneo, orangutan, Rehabilitation
A New Guard Post in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine, Rehabilitation | Date: Oct 24 2008 | By: orangutanfoundation
After the orangutan Zidane was brought back to the Care Centre in such an awful condition (A very sick orangutan) we promised we would take action. The subsequent Forestry Police patrol along the Buluh River and the community meeting we organised did not unearth the culprit but would have left no one in any doubt that the matter was being taken seriously.
The next stage was to prevent access into the Reserve from the western side. Jak, our Patrol Manager, has organised the construction of a new post (photo above) which is well on its way. I went over to have a look at the site last week. Its location is strategic and we are confident mobile patrols from this post will prevent people illegally entering the Reserve.
My apologies for my infrequent posts over the last couple of weeks; I am still here but find myself running just to stand still!
Best wishes,
Stephen
Are released orangutans really in the wild?
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine, Orangutans, Other wildlife, Rehabilitation | Date: Oct 10 2008 | By: orangutanfoundation
Bernadette thanks for your interest and yesterday’s question: Is the feeding site to ensure that the released orangutans can get food if they aren’t able to in the wild? I’d like to know more about how the release site will function? Is it a huge enclosure, or is it really the wild?
Rehabilitated orangutans, released into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, are given supplementary feedings every day. This ensures they maintain their physical condition during the transition period from life at the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine (OCCQ) to life in the wild. The feedings also decrease potential competition with wild orangutans and they allow us to monitor the released individuals. Frequently, the only time they are seen is when they come in for food.
Orangutans in Lamandau (sorry the photos are so dark).
As for the question of how wild it is: it is definitely wild. The Lamandau Wildlife Reserve has no fences. It is 760km2 most of which is forested. As you can see from the attached map, our guard posts protect the buffer zone (between the Reserve and the Lamandau River) which adds to the area available to the orangutans.
Just yesterday we counted six species of birds as we ate lunch on the jetty. During the time the volunteers were staying there they saw, red leaf-eating monkeys, proboscis monkeys, pig-tailed macaques (very rarely seen), a mouse deer and some snakes (admittedly the snakes were not so popular!).
They also saw leeches. However, let’s not be too hard on leeches as abundant leeches are a good indicator of a healthy mammal population; after all they do not exist just to prey on you and me. So even the leeches help answer your question. It is wild.
Thanks,
Stephen
Tags: Borneo, Orangutans, Rehabilitation, Wildlife
A Very Sick Orangutan
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine, Orangutans | Date: Sep 15 2008 | By: orangutanfoundation
Two weeks ago we were all very shocked when Zidane (pronounced Gee – dan) was brought back from Camp Buluh in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve to the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine. Not only did he have rampant diarrhoea, was emaciated, running a fever but, more worryingly, he had 16 air rifle pellets under his skin. We have never seen this before and therefore we knew we had to act immediately and sort out what had happened in Lamandau.
A very sick Zidane at the OCCQ
A Forestry Police patrol went out for three days to interview all the rubber-tappers working along the river. Yesterday, the Lamandau Camps Manager, Tigor organised a community meeting to which he brought along district Government representatives, the police and a doctor from the Health Department. We want everyone who lives or works inside the Reserve to take worming medicines to prevent more infections. However, as this is the holy month of Ramadan, when people are fasting, yesterday’s meeting was a socialisation exercise. Once Ramadan is over we will have another meeting when the doctor will distribute the medicine.
14 days on and Zidane’s condition is stable. For the first few days we did not think he would pull through. He was given two blood transfusions, from another orangutan at the Care Centre, was on a constant drip to keep his fluids up, and as far as his body would take it, was given worming and anti-dysentery medication. But every day that he manages to hold on gives us slightly more hope.
Having the individual feeding tyres for the orangutans will help us distribute their medicines more easily and will stop orangutans congregating on a feeding platform, therefore reducing the chance of infection – thank you very much to everyone who has donated so far. Please do consider donating so that we can implement this new feeding system throughout Lamandau.
New Tyre Feeding System.
Camp Buluh
We will also build another Guard Post on the western side of the Reserve, which will prevent access to the headwaters of the Buluh River.
Although I can’t promise Zidane will pull through, I will give our word that we will do everything possible to find out what happened and to prevent another orangutan suffering in the same way.
Thank you,
Stephen
Sowing the seeds…
Category: Forest Fires, Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Local Communities, Orangutans, Tree Planting | Date: May 21 2008 | By: orangutanfoundation
My every sense says the forests on the northern border of the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve are in trouble. Already split into thin fingers of forest, separated by degraded areas, it seems these forests are retreating not expanding. However, with the support of local communities, we have chosen this area as a reforestation site.
A few days ago I went there with Rene Dommain, the visiting German peat researcher, and we stayed at the very northern point of the Reserve, where we have a guard post, Post Prapat (see map).
Behind the post is one of the fingers of forest. Here there are tall trees, including those species found in deep forest, but they are only 20 metres away from sand. Clearly this is remnant primary forest and the thinner it gets, the more vulnerable it becomes.
Aerial view of Post Prapat with the remnant forest behind.
Rene helped to explain the process and no surprises here – the villain was fire. Whilst he described it as an “anthropogenic impact”, you and I can hear “man made”. The southern part of Borneo is a relatively “young” landscape. The base material is sand, deposited either from erosion of the high interior mountains or during the periods when the area was an ancestral seabed. Over thousands of years, grasses, shrubs, and then trees gradually covered the sand and forests grew.
Fires have had a major impact on this ecosystem. The first fires burning through the shallow humus layer, killing the trees’ roots. With the trees fallen the next fires to occur were even more destructive with subsequent fires encouraging scrub growth. Ultimately this left an exposed layer of sand with the original nutrient rich humus having been destroyed. Presently, these remaining forests are just waiting for the next dry year, the next fire.
The aim of the reforestation programme is not ambitious – even in our wildest dreams we cannot envisage the day when this will be thick forest. What we are trying to do is broaden the forested fingers, reduce the gaps and push the balance in favour of the trees not the scrub.
It is a tall order to regenerate this area, but you know us, we like a challenge!
We have established a tree nursery at Post Prapat. The people from the surrounding communities have been enthusiastic in finding wildings (seedlings harvested from wild seed-fall) to stock it. We will keep the trees in the nursery until their rooting systems are well established.
Nursery
The whole process is hugely resource-intensive and the return may be as little as 50ha (1/2 km2 or 123 acres). But that is hardly the point. The real points are:
- People learn about how fragile these ecosystems are.
- We are demonstrating that protecting the existing forest is much more effective than trying to re-grow it
- By protecting the fragile fringes, you prevent damage spreading to the core
In the case of Lamandau, the forest core is still rich in biodiversity. I led Rene on the 7 km walk southwards from Post Prapat to Camp Rasak. On the way, we saw a few birds and a snake. At Camp Rasak, I was hoping to catch of glimpse of Boni who we are told is seen most days and neither did we see Andi and Sawit, who seem to have gone off together (see post ‘More orangutans back in the wild‘). However we were fortunate to see Lady Di and her baby.
Lady Di was released into Lamandau in Febuary 2006 and this is her first baby.
It is hard to believe our reforestation programme site is only 7 km away, but without this added protection, this forest and these orangutans would seem a lot more vulnerable.
- PS, Sheryl, you’ll be pleased to know once the eagle, snake and monkeys were out of the traps, I also set the fish free 
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Tags: Borneo, Fires, Forest, Orangutans, Reforestation
What to do with illegal logs?
Category: Guard posts and patrols, Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, Logging, Uncategorized | Date: Jan 31 2008 | By: admin
Dear Sherri
Your point about using illegally felled wood is a good one and is something we have debated at length. There are essentially three options when dealing with illegal loggers:
1. Evict them and thus the fallen wood is left behind
2. Evict them and render the wood useless by sawing it into unusable pieces that can’t be used.
3. Arrest and process the loggers. After their trial the timber, which is classed as evidence, can then be auctioned.
Option three is by far and away the best. Wood bought at a Police auction is transparently ‘clean’ and could be used for a good purpose. Unfortunately, this option requires full police involvement and happens infrequently. Our staff have general powers of “citizens arrest” but that isn’t enough. The Police really need to be there at the time of the arrest but, not un-understandably, they are frequently reluctant to press charges against small time loggers who, after all, are just local people. Also, the wood needs to be sold, not given away, as the Police need the proceeds to cover the cost of the trial.
What we find - illegal logging raft
Option one is the worst, though this was the strategy we had to use when we were overwhelmed by illegal logging a few years ago. While the wood remains in the forest, someone will be tempted to get it out. Being hardwood the timber remains useable for years after being felled but there is no way either we or the Government could use it. It would appear we were either profiting from the illegal logger’s efforts or, bizarrely, even robbing them. In the local context, where arguably double standards apply, we have to be whiter than white. We simply could not use illegal felled wood directly without someone holding it against us.
Cutting the wood into unusable pieces with police support
Option two is the method most commonly used. By chopping up the wood, the logger’s efforts are in vain, resulting in a net loss to them (they hire the chain saws, borrow money for food and equipment etc.) However, without the teeth of a more severe punishment, some people may accept being evicted as a risk worth taking. That’s where Jak comes in. He pushes the Police to at least hold the loggers in custody for some time, even if they do not actually end up in court. People here are scared of the Police and going to jail for an unspecified period of time is a terrifying prospect.
This year, we will be trying to fund large signboards along the major rivers, which the Police have requested, saying logging is forbidden and warning of the consequences. The Police always accompany us when the illegally felled wood is destroyed (see photo) but, when it comes to arresting people, they want to be in a position where it is 100% clear; there can be no excuses for logging in these places.
Do we admit the system is imperfect? Yes, completely. But is it about as good as we can get it at the present time? Probably.
Kind regards
Stephen
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Donations Received
- Nov 3rd Matthew K. USD35.00
- Oct 19th Brigitta S. USD20.00
- Oct 15th Tal B. USD22.00
- Oct 3rd Matthew K. USD35.00
- Sep 19th Brigitta S. USD20.00
- Sep 15th Tal B. USD22.00
- Sep 3rd Matthew K. USD35.00
- Aug 22nd Gerhard R. USD20.00
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- Aug 11th Brigitta S. USD100.00
- Aug 3rd Matthew K. USD35.00
- Jul 19th Brigitta S. USD20.00
- Jul 15th Tal B. USD22.00
- Jul 3rd Matthew K. USD35.00
- Jun 19th Brigitta S. USD20.00
- Jun 15th Tal B. USD22.00
