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Fighting forest fires

by Geoff Welch

 An unusually long and hot dry season is currently challenging the Harapan Rainforest team. Logged forest quickly dries out and becomes prone to fire. Our long-term strategy is to restore the forest as quickly as possible - to re-establish the forest canopy, creating a cool and moist microclimate that is less susceptible to burning. This will take some time, though work has already started, and we are already seeing good regeneration across the site.

 

A waste of a life

A shocking report from Sumatra reminds me how important Harapan Rainforest is for tigers. In late August, a female tiger in Jambi zoo (less than three hours from Harapan Rainforest) was killed by poachers. They broke in to the zoo at night, poisoned her, and took her skin and body parts to presumably be sold abroad. Jambi is close to Singapore, and from there it is easy to access the lucrative traditional medicine markets throughout east Asia. Her skin will fetch around £600, a tooth £40, a piece of whisker £8-18 and a rib £15. This is the third such incident in zoos across Indonesia in the last four months.

Don't just take our word for it!

Frogmouth Chaca

 Harapan Rainforest was recently honoured by a visit from Tony Whitten, a senior biodiversity specialist at the World Bank. Tony was part of a team that produced a World bank paper in 2001 that was influential in prompting the project partners' involvement in the conservation of Sumatra’s lowland forests when it predicted the imminent loss of the important dry lowland forest. His own engagement with Sumatran wildlife began in the 1970s when he studied the Kloss gibbon on Siberut, an island off the western coast. He has remained a strong advocate for conservation of Sumatra’s amazing wildlife ever since.

Independence day fun and games

Krupuk eating competition Harapan Rainforest staff and local community members celebrated Indonesian Independence Day together on August 17th. After raising the national flag, singing the national anthem and the reading of the declaration of independence, the fun began. Bathin Sembilan children enjoyed a number of games, including an uproarious race to eat krupuk (large prawn crackers) hanging by strings – no hands allowed!

My Harapan Rainforest moment

Agile gibbons I'm just coming to the end of a three-month stint providing management support to the Harapan Rainforest site management team. When I used to work on RSPB reserves in the UK, I'd wake up to the dawn chorus of bird song but here in the forest, the birds are outcompeted by the agile gibbons that are regularly found around camp. Sounding like demented Clangers, the females start calling just before it gets light and usually they are off in the forest feeding before you're able to get a good view.

Harapan Rainforest's new nurse is a real shot in the arm!

Poppy We're delighted to increase our healthcare capacity at Harapan Rainforest with the appointment of Poppy as our nurse and healthcare worker. With nearly a two-hour round trip to the nearest basic government clinic, and three hours to the nearest hospital, it is important that we are able to at least handle the minor illnesses and injuries of the Harapan Rainforest team here on site. We also need to make sure that disease prevention is a priority, bearing in mind the high incidence of malaria and water-borne disease in the area.

Homes for hornbills

Climbing training Last year the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund helped Harapan Rainforest start a hornbill nestbox scheme. This provides additional nest sites for hornbills while the forest regenerates and more large trees suitable for nesting become available. Lack of nest holes due to loss of large trees is a major threat to hornbills in Sumatra. Over the last year, our tree climbers have mounted 20 boxes at the dizzying heights of 25-30m above the forest floor. The good news for Harapan Rainforest’s hornbills (all nine of Sumatra's hornbill species are found in the forest) is that we have just secured funds from the Seaworld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund to continue and expand our nestbox programme for another year

First phase of tree surveys completed

It is very important for us to know how Harapan Rainforest is regenerating. To do that we need to know what it is like now. I’ve been running the inventory teams that have just finished the first phase of that work, covering just over half of Harapan Rainforest. It was a marathon effort, with 374 plots measured, taking nearly a year with six teams of eight people involved full-time.

Indigenous children with an opportunity to learn

Classroom We are currently celebrating the achievements of Harapan Rainforest’s mobile school. Twenty-one children between seven and 13 from the indigenous Bathin Sembilan community currently attend the school. They learn literacy and numeracy skills, and are introduced to ideas related to nature conservation. The school is popular with the government’s education department, which is currently validating it so that the pupils can leave with recognised qualifications.

A close encounter with a sun bear family

Malayan sun bear

 I was thrilled when, whilst walking a regular mammal survey transect line, rustling in some undergrowth turned out to be an adult female Malayan sun bear. I was even more excited when a few moments later, the bear’s young cub came sliding down a nearby macaranga tree, pausing long enough for me to get some great photos before joining his mother and disappearing into the forest.