Archive for the ‘Lamandau Wildlife Reserve’ Category
I see a number of people have asked how we monitor the orangutans once they have been released into Lamandau. There is nothing technical involved: our field assistants follow the orangutans from sunrise to sunset (or as we say, “nest to nest”) everyday for a week. If after that time it is clear the orangutan has adapted to life in the forest, they will then be followed occasionally like the other previously released orangutans. If after the first week, the assistants are concerned that the orangutan may not be adapting they will continue to follow he or she for a month. Common causes of concern are the orangutans not making their own nests but choosing to sleep on the feeding platform or making a bee-line for Camp and not exploring their new surroundings. Within the first week, we expect to see the orangutans making their own nest, trying wild food and travelling. Nearly all achieve this.
Most newly-released orangutans tend not to go too far in the first couple of days but then they start to travel further and further. Last December I told you about the release of Sawit and her adopted son Andi. They took off within their first week, probably because Sawit was being hassled by a sub-adult male. The Assistants could not follow her through the swamps to the west of Camp Rasak. However, on 22 April, back they came, still together. Which brings me onto the last element of the post-release monitoring; the daily supplemental feedings. In Tanjung Puting, where orangutans were released from the early 1970s to the mid-90s, the rehabilitants are offered food once a day. In Lamandau food is provided twice a day. This serves three purposes: it keeps up the nutrition levels of the released orangutans; it decreases competition for scare food resources with wild orangutans, gibbons, hornbills, and other wildlife and finally it enables us to monitor the orangutans’ development. All individuals coming to the feeding stations are recorded; over the course of a year, at least half of all released orangutans are seen. The Assistants also note whether they are consorting with the opposite sex, pregnant or with an infant and their general health. For example, Boni who was released at the same time as Sawit and Andi came into feeding 26 times during April, and then every day in May and June. Lady Di, whose picture I showed you in April, was around for 28 days in April, May and June but Hongky was there for just 9 days in April, 14 days in May and 25 days in June. In answer to “Rick, El Paso, TEXAS” question about the availability of this data, I am afraid to say it is not available online. We produce quarterly reports, in Indonesian, covering this information but the reports are for the Forestry Department and our own internal use. However, Tigor who manages the Lamandau Camps is providing information about our release program to an Indonesian PhD student at Cambridge University in the UK. So hopefully it will be peer-reviewed and published.
Please keep asking questions and I’ll try to keep answering them! Many thanks.
Wow Kusasi certainly proved popular! Thank you for all the positive comments and nice to hear from you again Brigitta. If people want to see the film “Kusasi from Orphan to King” I understand it can be bought on-line from PBS. The other week I wrote that July was Pondok Ambung, our Tropical Forest Research Station’s, “month”. Certainly, the research activities there dominated my time, but that does not mean everything else stopped. In fact, four more orangutans were released from the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. I now have a bit of time to tell you about them. Biruté Galdikas supervised the releases with Tigor, the Manager of the five release camps. On 28 July, the adult female Sasha was released along with her adopted daughter Monica. Though Monica was no longer an infant, it is always good to see these adoptions work; no matter how competent the staff at the Care Centre are, obviously a female orangutan is the best possible mother for youngster. The second release on 4 August was a bit more traumatic. The orangutans, Ucok and Lori, were OK, but the people had some problems! The orangutans were moved out of the Care Centre in the morning, to avoid them travelling in the heat of the day and were carried in a kelotok (a traditional boat a bit like a motorized canoe). Biruté, Tigor and other staff travelled up later in speedboats. Or at least that was the plan; low water levels meant the speedboats could not get up. They lost two propellers and cracked the hull of one of the boats after colliding with submerged logs. Eventually, the kelotok had to come back for them. The pictures below show the release from the Care Centre to Camp Rasak and then freedom, once again, in the wild. Monica
Monica and Sasha leaving the OCCQ
These photos show the orangutans being moved from the Care Centre, into the kelotok, then having a few minutes peace on the feeding platform before some other interested orangutans came for a nose. All the photo’s were taken by Uduk, Tigor’s deputy, on a camera recently donated to the Orangutan Foundation at our Members and Supporter’s Evening in London, in July.
Sheryl raised two interesting points in her comment on the illegal farming: 1) “I’m sure the farmers knew they were on reserve land” We are pretty sure they did too as, in this part of the world, the Reserve is where the trees are! However, this is almost impossible to prove and, even knowing it is a conservation area, won’t necessarily stop the villagers from laying a claim to the land.
Slash and burn is commonly used to clear the forest.
Illegal settlement in cleared forest. Secondly, Sheryl wrote “don’t people have to own the land or have permits from landowners to burn forest and start a farm? I mean, here I couldn’t just drive out to the country and start farming!” Bizarrely, Indonesian laws concerning community use of forest lands still end up promoting forest clearance. If you clear the land it is deemed an improvement. Anyone who improves the land has de-facto usage rights to it. And those rights are passed down from generation to generation. I have been in some very old secondary forest only to be told this is “Mr so and so’s land…” In the case of the illegal farms, our only weapon is that the farm was clearly established after the Reserve was gazetted. It is illegal. Kind regards, Stephen
Following on from my last post “Busy, busy, busy”, here’s some more detail about the illegal farming. The farm was obviously productive and well-maintained. It had a fence around it to keep out wild pigs and deer. Inside, bananas, rice, cassava and a number of vegetables were all growing well. Indeed, if our agricultural demonstration plots looked that good we could be justifiably proud.
But there was one big problem with this farm – it is inside the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. It is obvious from the surrounding forest the farmers were not making use of fallow land, as we try to do with the demonstration farms. No, here, they had cleared the forest and then burnt it to boost soil fertility.
Note the surrounding tree-line. This situation gives us a problem, as there is no real alternative to evicting them. We do not wish to have a confrontation with the surrounding villages; one of our aims is to establish harmonious relations between the neighbouring communities and conservation areas. However, if there is a flagrant violation of the law, as in this case, there is little that can be done. The farmers can not be allowed to continue. They are clearly damaging the forest, increasing the risk of forest fires and would almost certainly persecute any wildlife that took to crop raiding.
Once forest, now farm land. Technically, the farmers could be arrested, but pragmatically this would only inflame local sensibilities and even the police would be reluctant to arrest someone for (as they will see it) “just growing food”. The balancing act facing us, therefore, is to get the people out of the Reserve without turning their whole village against us but, at the same time, creating a strong enough front to deter anyone else from attempting to farm there. The Forestry Department officials, under whose auspices we work, have suggested giving the farmers six months to complete the current harvest after which they must leave. This seems reasonable. We can easily monitor them to make sure there is no further expansion or burning. We can also make use of this time to erect a signboard/ block on the river the farmers are using for access to prevent anyone else from saying “I did not know it was a Conservation Area”. It is worrying that people still do not respect Lamandau’s borders but it is encouraging that our patrols clearly have good enough ground coverage that they were able to detect the farm and, secondly, that the Forestry Department has the resolve to deal with it. A strong display now will go along way to reducing such incidents in the future. - P.S. Brigitta, thank you for the comment. It is a pity about the video question and answer session, but it will still be good to meet up. As I said, I will be at Pondok Ambung or Camp Leakey on the 10th, so we’ll meet up then. Safe travels!
Once again, I find myself in the unenviable position of having to apologise for the long silence. I know I have neglected to keep you up to date with all that is going on in orangutan-land. If I have an excuse it is only that I have been struggling to keep up myself. June has looked like this:
(Supply boat after it was refloated, repaired and painted) First week: Five straight days in the field investigating a case of illegal farming inside the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, which is when I managed to get Jak hopelessly lost (or vice-versa as I still maintain!) followed by a meeting with the mangers of one of the palm-oil plantations which border the Reserve. After that, we continued onto Sukamara, the next district capital, where we are establishing an office.
Second week: To Jakarta where Astri, I and representatives of seven other projects attended a coordination meeting with the European Commission Delegation prior to the opening of the Indonesia Environment Week exhibition. If nothing else, the meeting made us proud our little project is holding its own at the sharp end. I also met with the director of a company which conducts bio-carbon surveys. Many people are talking about trying to protect forests through carbon-offsets, or Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects, but very little is actually happening on the ground. That is a ring into which we want to throw our hat – Belantikan is a stand-out candidate for protection. For a taste of what this involves have a look at http://www.climate-standards.org/ and follow the links to “Climate, Community & Biodiversity Project Design Standards, Draft Second Edition”. Finally, I met with the coordinators of the cross border, USAID funded project we are working on. Third week: Should have been back in the office attending to paperwork, but it did not turn out that way! Our supply boat was battered in heavy seas, made it to the Buluh Besar guard post then promptly sank. Our supervisor, Teguh, was apologetic but he really needn’t have been: clearly not his fault. I also went back to Lamandau to check on progress at the new release camp which the volunteers are building. Then, last weekend, I went up to Pondok Ambung to have a few days with the crocodile researcher.
In between there was the usual mix of staff management issues (how do you budget for out-of-the-blue double digit inflation?); an audit; a volunteer with a horribly infected leg derived from over-zealous scratching of mosquito bites and my Indonesian counter-part saying he can’t continue to work in Borneo with his wife – who is expecting their first child – still in Java. He has been like a second limb to me, and his departure is big blow.
I am sure like many other people reading this blog, my problem is trying to juggle too many balls at the same time. A problem which is made worse by my being a mere male who is genetically incapable of multi-tasking! The up-side, however, is that I did manage to sneak up to Camp Leakey to see Uning the daughter of one of my favourite orangutans, Unyuk. Uning has just had her first baby. It was great to see them.
Many thanks, Orangutan Foundation
“Hey Jak” I called over my shoulder “Are you following me or the path?”. “Following you” Jak replied. Not good. I wasn’t leading; I was merely walking in front. For the last 100 odd metres I’d become increasingly convinced we’d left the path and were following a pig’s trail through the forest. It was 5pm. It would be dark in an hour. We were both soaked to the skin and had been walking in ankle deep water for the last twenty minutes, as a result of the afternoon downpour. And a 100 metres may not sound much but given I wasn’t sure of the exact distance our chances of back-tracking weren’t promising. I remembered there was a tree with unusually large leaves where the proper trail re-entered the forest after crossing the open bit where we were now standing. Jak’s face was a picture when I said “look for a tree with big leaves”. In a forest, right… good idea.
(Example of the forest terrain, without the water!) Still, I had my revenge. Jak got out his GPS which told us accurately where we were on the earth’s surface and it even told us it was only 2.9km to the guard post. Did it, however, tell us where the path was? The path that would enable us to get through the forest and to the post before nightfall? The path that I had been unable to follow in daylight let alone pitch blackness? I wanted to turn east along the forest edge, Jak opted for north-west. As I had got us into this mess I decided not to argue and to follow him. Of course, he was right. Consequently, I was secretly delighted when he failed to notice the tree with big leaves and I could call out “here it is” as we crossed the right track. That was Tuesday evening. We were in the field until Friday…last week was a long one!
This morning we attended a meeting organised by the local forestry department. They are creating “An Inventory of the Potential for Non-timber Forest Products” in the local government district. Non-timber forest products, or NTFP, as they are referred to in conservation jargon, are an often used argument for the protection of forests. Local people for millennia have exploited NTFP and although their impact on the local environment and wildlife may be debated, in comparison to bulldozers their impact on the forests was negligible. Therefore, we consider NTFP a valuable tool in protecting the forests and we are pleased that the local government is taking this initiative (see the photos below showing various examples of NTFPs).
Fruit picking
Making rattan baskets
Rattan Baskets
Other craft products This week I’ll have my own opportunity to assess the sustainability of NTFP. I’m off into the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve until Friday. A pleasant round of investigating reports of farming inside the reserve, plantation expansion on its border, and an assessment of activities on the western edge. Hopefully, I’ll see an orangutan or two. I’ll write again when I get back on Friday or Saturday.
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:
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 We are participating in WildlifeDirect’s business strategy. Please help us by taking this user survey, thank you.
Releasing caged wildlife is rarely anyone’s idea of fun. Panic-stricken animals tend to lash out and they don’t have claws, teeth and talons for nothing. Which is why, yesterday, finding an eagle, a snake and two macaques caught in fish traps provided a challenging finish to the day. As always, I must apologise for the photos; but this time we did have a good excuse; we were all a bit too busy to take photos. So, thank you Rene (a peat forest researcher) for taking the ones below. The fish traps were made of a wooden frame wrapped in netting with an inverted slit through which fish can enter but can not escape. Because the water level in the Mangkung River, the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, has dropped so much the traps were exposed and the fish inside had obviously tempted the monkeys and the crested-serpent eagle in for an easy meal. Certainly, I have never seen animals caught in them before. Jak, the Lamandau Patrol Manager and I tackled the eagle first, only to find there was a small python in the trap as well. I was certain that as we cut away the netting the eagle would either peck or slash with its talons, which were wrapped in the netting. Amazingly, once the roof was cut away the bird freed its feet and flew out right in front of our faces, without scratching either of us.
Crested serpent-eagle caught in a fish trap (photo by Rene Dommain). The python was half way through the netting but having gorged on the trapped fish had a bulge three quarters of the way down its body, which would not fit through the mesh. Jak was all for leaving it and I have to say as its head twisted around I thought he had a point. However, as it was, the snake would be a sitting target for the next eagle to come along. So trying to keep the sharp edge away from its skin, I slid my knife in between the snake and the netting and cut it free. Great, we were now in the water with a python and neither of us wanted to think about crocodiles!
Juvenile macaque caught in a fish trap - once freed he swam away (photo by Rene Dommain). The macaques were about 100m downstream. In one trap there was a juvenile and on the opposite riverbank, an adult female, thrashing around madly. We were able to free the youngster and I swam over to cut out the female. Again, having some experience of macaques, I thought as soon as the top was open she would come flying out and bite. My dulcet tones did nothing to calm her and, as I cut away each side, she would retreat into the opposite corner ensuring she was always under netting until the whole top was cut off. Only then did she come out. It was obviously our lucky day for instead of flying out as predicted she actually dove down and swam away under the water. We saw her pop up and climb out, maybe, 15m away. Four animals released without injury to either them or us. Not bad. Then I scrapped all the skin off my shin climbing back into the boat! Nancy M., thank you very much for your donation of $50, that you made at the end of April, your support is much appreciated. “We are participating in WildlifeDirect’s business strategy. Please help us by taking this user survey, thank you”
“Why do you do it like that?” “That’s the way it has always been done.” One of the standards in orangutan rehabilitation is released orangutans are fed on a platform.
Photos showing the feeding platforms that have always been used.
Everyone does it; as do we. But then we got to thinking there has to be a better way. Wild orangutans, especially in Borneo, rarely if ever, feed in groups. So why should ex-captives? Without the platform though, how do you feed them? By hand is not an option. So we thought “put a bucket on a tree”. No, the orangutans will destroy a bucket in seconds. OK, use a cooking pot. Imagine the noise they would make banging that around, plus they will rip it off the tree! Alright then, use an inside out car tyre as a bucket. Fine, but how are you going to attach it; we don’t want to bore into the tree? Here’s an idea, when you cut off the side walls to invert the tyre, use the off-cuts as straps to hold the tyre against the tree.
Old tyres- they have many uses, if not for fire beaters then as a feeding bucket So we’re settled: the food goes in the car tyre strapped to the tree. But how do you give them their milk (which many love more than fruit)? Cups – they’ll break, be lost and will become litter. Water bottles – even worse. Let’s try coconuts. Cut the top off, pour the milk in, put the coconut in the tyre; if the orangutans drop it, it will be easy to find and even if we don’t it is hardly litter. All good then - let’s try it.
Its a good job our assistants are tree climbers too!
The feeding system has been running in Camp Siswoyo for a month now. It is not perfect. More than one orangutan may descend on each tyre. Some still walk on the ground between the feeding trees. We are buying an awful lot of coconuts – the orangutans drink the milk then eat the nut! It is more work on the staff and they have to be quick to get the food out.
But is it better than the platforms? Oh yes. You can ensure a fairer distribution of food. It lessens competition, facilitates giving medication when necessary and it keeps the orangutans feeding in the trees.
The system needs to be tweaked, but as a first attempt at a new idea we are all delighted with the result. And here’s where I have to add a thank you not only to Tigor and his staff for their enthusiasm to give it a go, but also to Jodie and Peter: the endless night’s talking about how we could make individual feedings work were worth it!
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