Forest Restoration
From ForestRestor
Welcome to the Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) Reforestation Wiki – a place that we hope will provide you with valuable information and inspiration concerning our restoration efforts in Gunung Palung National Park, in West Kalimantan Indonesia.
Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) is a non-governmental organization working in the area surrounding Gunung Palung National Park, in Western Indonesian Borneo. Sponsored by its American counterpart, Health in Harmony, ASRI combines efforts to improve both human and environmental health by offering greater healthcare incentives to communities who safeguard Gunung Palung’s precious natural environment. Gunung Palung's beautiful tropical rainforests provide critical ecosystem services for bordering communities, including flood mitigation, malaria abatement, nutrient cycling nutrient cycling and air quality assurance. The forests are simultaneously home to incredible biodiversity: wild orangutans, sun bears, gibbons, proboscis monkeys, wild boars, and hundreds of rare bird species.
Despite their immeasurable value as intact forests however, Gunung Palung and its surrounding areas have been, and continue to be hotbeds of illegal logging and burning, leading to the widespread degradation of biodiversity, increasing chances of natural fire, and reducing the quality of life of local people. It is one of these many degraded areas that ASRI and Health in Harmony are now seeking to restore.
December 2009 saw the completion of the restoration of four hectares, or ten acres of Gunung Palung; an area that has since been monitored in an effort to better understand how to battle invasive weeds, care for seedlings in the field, improve the growth of re-sprouting trees and help regenerate forest within the National Park. Since this project remains in its experimental phase, the results from the 17 000 seedlings of the 2009 trials will be used to develop reforestation strategies and to replant larger areas in the years to come. ASRI is planning on replanting another six hectares of degraded forest area within the park in November of 2010, will be referencing the results of earlier trials to influence their methods and improve rates of success, and will continue to employ members of the local community as to maximize community engagement and benefits.
This Wiki aims to provide our many supporters with information about what they have helped achieve, and to support the efforts of other reforestation projects, in both Gunung Palung and elsewhere in tropical Southeast Asia. Recognizing the importance of best-practice and information sharing to the latter, we encourage all other groups working towards similar goals in similar habitats to sign up for a free account and add to this Wiki their own techniques, challenges, and results.
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Project Location
The ASRI program home is in the town of Sukadana, alongside the ASRI medical clinic a native plant nursery has been established and remains as the hub of restoration operations.
Restoration field projects for 2009 and 2010 are located on the South side of Gunung Palung National Park, just within the park’s perimeter in an area referred to as the Marcellas site (named for a former logging concession that eventually penetrated the park boundary). Road access, the pre-existence of a hiking trail and community support motivated the selection of this particular site, with the hopes that this area can one day be used for educational purposes, both for tourists and the local communities.
Background
Lowland Dipterocarp dominated tropical rainforests, found throughout Borneo, are particularly vulnerable to degradation due to their accessibility and the breadth of high value timber that they support. Within Gunung Palung National Park these areas are rapidly disappearing due to illegal logging, fire, and agricultural expansion, namely in the form of palm oil plantations. The processes of natural succession in these degraded lands has been further affected by the invasive grass Imperata cylindrical locally known as ‘alang alang’. Alang alang is a rhizomatous perennial grass which can tolerate a wide range of habitat conditions and is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as one of the world’s ten worst weeds. The grass reproduces by wind dispersed seed and regenerates from rhizomes, which are often spread by tilling equipment and soil transport. Alang alang is instrumental in preventing the natural secondary regeneration of forests, largely because of its ability to invade post-logging, where they become a fire climax vegetation type and severely harms the prospects for forest regeneration. Alang alang often recovers quickly after burning, and burns hot enough to damage native vegetation not adapted to frequent fire, thus altering natural cycles in both fire adapted and non-fire adapted systems. The eradication of alang alang has been heavily researched and many suggested methods exist, but many are quite costly. If this cycle of fire and invasion proceeds without attempts to prevent, halt or understand the level of damage, we will lose more and more forest within the protected National Park.
With low-cost options for eradicating alang alang and high demand for forest resources coupled by large scale forest clearing for agricultural expansion, the pressure to extract resources illegally is on the rise. Fortunately, intact core forest remains and healthy remnant patches still support a diversity of species, including an estimated 10% of the worlds remaining wild orangutans. However, important sections of the park are not adequately recovering on their own and illegal logging, although slowed, continues to occur.
Project Development
Site Selection In 2009, two sites inside the park boundary where selected where restoration projects would be focused. Both sites, Sehjatera and Marcellas, were chosen based on accessibility, level of degradation and community willingness for the project.
Identifying Constraints
Following site selection, the areas chosen were surveyed and community members consulted to understand the existing constraints to natural regeneration. In this early survey these main factors preventing forest regeneration were evident.
- Invasive plants
- Leached soils
- Fire
- Illegal logging
- Agriculture inside park boundaries
Developing Methods
Based on these findings a preliminary project outline was developed and methods researched via a literature search. To test some initial ideas prior to full scale implementation the following Pilot Projects were conducted in the summer of 2009 at the Sejhatera site.
- Pilot Projects
- Invasive plant control
- Fertilizer trials
- Assisting Natural Regeneration of Seedlings
Reforestation at Lamon Satong
Building on knowledge gleaned from the pilot projects, our reforestation work at the Marcellas site in Lamon Satong is taking place in three steps: site preparation treatments, planting, and follow-up care. Our most significant challenges include preventing fire and controlling resam (a native but weedy fern) and Imperata cylindrical. We incorporated various methods of site preparation in an effort to combat these issues and investigative treatments are scheduled to measure over time to inform future stages of the restoration work. Knowledge about what was successful and what was not, and critical economic data, namely the availability and cost of raw materials and labor, as well as the time and effort required for each task will no doubt prove valuable to both the future of this project, and any others that are planned throughout the tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
Experimental Design
In 2009, 102 square plots, each 20 x 20 m were planted, with 177 seedlings in each. The whole area was surrounded with a 10 meter firebreak immediately proceeding 2010’s dry season, and each plot was treated as a single experimental unit, meaning that all the trees within each plot received the same treatment. Because some unplanted plots have been included in the design as controls, 90 plots were planted altogether. Trees were planted at approximately 1.5 – 1.8m spacing, but the positions of individual trees were systematically altered to avoid a linear, artificial planting arrangement. Planted tree species consist of forest species gathered by local staff and fruit trees which were contributed by members of communities all around Gunung Palung National Park. For species related information please see Forest Restor 2009 Species List.
Site Preparation
Initial preparation of the Marcellas site involved surveying for existing trees, securing access to water and mapping out areas to be cleared. Then, beginning in October 2009, the 4 hectares were divided into the 102 square 20 x 20 m plots. Back in the nursery, seedlings were moved from under shade structures into the full sun; this ‘hardening off’ was meant to help the seedlings endure transplant.
Site preparation also involved eliminating strongly-competing weeds which would prevent tree seedlings from surviving. Spraying with glyphosate (Roundup) was one frequently employed option, as was ‘pressing’, i.e. using a board to crush tall grass flat which weakens the weeds giving the root systems of seedlings comparative advantage to grow overtop. There are several important differences between the methods: while glyphosate works fast and needs to be applied only once, pressing is slightly slower and needs to be done several times to be effective. Contrastingly, Roundup is highly toxic to non-target plants, such as existing trees. Ultimately a solution or combination of activities that mitigates the broader environmental issues of glyphosate with the economic and time issues surrounding pressing will be ideal.
Treatment Types and Monitoring
Treatment types were selected from a combination of literature and professional experience and were applied to entire plots in a randomized and replicated design. For all experiments, response variables were and will continue to be survival and growth for each individual plant, measured periodically over the years (immediately after planting, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc.).
Weeding vs. Mulch Mats
As a treatment, weeding may prove to be more important than site preparation, because it is done in direct proximity to each seedling. Cutting and hoeing weeds to a diameter of 1 m around plants reduces local competition from other root systems, which is the most immediate way in which weeds threaten trees. Weeding is however, a treatment which is both labor and time intensive, as it has to be repeated at intervals throughout the year.
In Lamon Satong, the ASRI team is contrasting weeding with the use of cardboard ‘mulch mats’, which may prevent weed seeds from germinating, in addition to retaining moisture around the tree roots. The interaction between weeding and cardboard mats is of particular interest: is the combination of both better than either alone? Or is only one method sufficient to control weeds?
Fertilizer
The choice between fertilizers is similar to that between weeding methods: fast, chemical NPK fertilizer compared to slower, labor-intensive manure compost. While NPK may present the best time savings, manure is much cheaper and may help rebuild the organic matter in this frequently-burnt soil, thus garnering even stronger results.
Other
Three treatment types which do not require seedlings to be planted are also being employed as a means of investigating lower-input ways of restoring rainforest on these sites. First, sticks of Peronema canescens and Gliricidia sp. were planted without seedlings in the first year; plots which will be planted with seedlings in 2010. The shade from the growing sticks may serve as a ‘nurse crop’ which suppresses weeds and encourages seedlings. In addition to the employment of these treatment types in varying combinations, four unplanted, un-manipulated plots have also been maintained as controls within the planting area to reveal the effects of fire prevention, which may in itself be sufficient to allow forest trees to re-colonize the site.
Another viable treatment option (though not yet used) is to attempt moving forest soil into the field, to assess whether this is a cost-effective way of introducing seeds to the soil, thus bypassing the need to gather and raise seedlings. Doing this would involve dividing two 20 x 20 m plots into 10 x 10 m subplots, clearing the area with an application of glyphosate, and spreading rainforest soil on half of the subplots. If completed, this study would provide two valuable pieces of information: first, what is the density of forest trees in the seed bank at the site, and second, is soil addition a feasible supplement to tree-planting? As a side experiment, results could be confirmed by collecting soil from both the rainforest and the site and attempting to germinate seeds in greenhouse conditions.
In the future data gathered from these various treatment types will be used to select the ‘optimal’ means of forest restoration for the Marcellas site; optimal in the context of seedling performance as well as the amount of time, money and human labour required. Broader environmental concerns will also be taken into consideration. To achieve this ‘optimal’ end, the best means of site preparation, the importance of weeding, the benefits of using weed-reducing cardboard mats, the effect of fertilizers and the importance of species composition will all have to be determined. Above all else, the most important information will be which species of trees survive at the highest rates. Our regular surveys in the months and years ahead, in which we will track species, survival and growth for each seedling, will provide essential data in planning our species collections for future years.
Additionally, we suspect that a key component of a successful species mix will be ‘pioneer’ species which grow rapidly and shade the grasses. As a result, six plots where the proportion of a known pioneer species (Peronema canescens) has been increased have been included. The response variable for this experiment will be the survivorship of all non-Peronema trees. Because many pioneer species can grow very well from cuttings, cuttings (“sticks” approximately 1 m high) will also be added from wild trees and planting them among the seedlings in 6 separate plots. For this ‘stick-addition’ treatment P. canescens and Gliricidia sp. will be planted at a rate of about 100 per plot at a spacing of about 2 m. Here, the response variable will be seedling growth and survivorship relative to control, as well as the number of sticks that survive and grow.
Nursery Management
Our nursery is managed by a seedling nursery coordinator aided by several local people. Occasionally, extra work is provided by patients making non-cash payments to the ASRI clinic that is located two hours away in Sukadana. Nursery work involves making compost, filling polybags with soil, seed and seedling collection in the forest and planting, watering and caring for an ever growing stock of Seedlings.
Making Compost
The ASRI nursery uses organic compost for all of its seedlings. The materials are collected via non-cash payments made to the clinic, as well as freely from the surrounding environment. First cow and/or goat manure is laid on the ground, dolomite is spread on top, a layer of greens is added (usually from Klirisidi or[Serunai or rice stems) and finally, a layer of rice husks. Effective microorganisms are sprayed on top. This entire process is repeated until the pile reaches a height of one metre, and then covered with plastic. The pile is turned after one month, and is ready for use half a month later when it is mixed with topsoil in a 1:2 compost : topsoil ratio and is then filled in to Polybags. Polybags are 7 x 25 cm, and cost about 450 000 Rupiah (50 USD) for a 20 kg sack.
Forest
ASRI’s seedlings come from both the national park and private forests. To collect directly from the national park, a permit from the park office had to be obtained. In the forest, seedlings are pulled up into large plastic sacks and leaves and water are then added to retain moisture around the root systems. A single collection trip consisting of two workers, one National Park official and one local guide has been proven to yield as many as 1500 plants.
Seed Collection
Some tree Seedlings are collected as seed. These species include Kelayau, Ubah, Durian, Nangka/Cempadak (both in the genus Arthocarpus), Keminting, Belian, Rambutan, Pisang-Pisang and Mangga. Many of these seeds require special treatment before they will germinate in the nursery. For example, Merbau requires a small abrasion to be made at one end, before the plant is soaked in water for 24 hours so that moisture can enter the seed directly. In contrast, Belian seeds need to be cracked with a hammer, while Keminting seeds are placed under a smoldering fire.
Seed Bank
The seeds of Macaranga sp. are hard to gather in the field because of their small size. Therefore, ASRI uses a seed-bank method; soil is gathered from beneath large individuals of this species type, and then spread in a tray to a depth of about 15 cm, and over an area of about one square meter and watered regularly. Seedlings emerging from these trays are transplanted into polybags when about 3 cm high. These seedlings usually grow faster than seedlings grown from sticks. The disadvantage of this method is that small, new seedlings are often misidentified until after they have been transplanted.
Cuttings
Several species in our nursery are grown from cuttings as well as seeds or forest-collected seedlings. These include Sungkai, Macaranga, Gaharu, Laban and Angsana. Branches or young trunks of forest trees are collected, and cut into 15 cm lengths, with each length including a bud near the top. Before planting these cuttings they are dipped into a rooting hormone containing the auxin IBA (Indole-3-butyric acid).
Seedling Husbandry
In the ASRI nursery just across the road from the reforestation plots, seedlings are watered everyday. They are held by bamboo frames at ground level, and protected from direct sunlight either by a shade cloth (for newly planted seedlings) or by natural shade (more established seedlings). Our natural-shade area is an area of recently re-grown forest in which the undergrowth has been cleared and bamboo frames constructed.
Local Stakeholders
National Park Service
The National Park office has been especially supportive of ASRI’s work in the perimeters of Gunung Palung; both in allowing us to reforest the Marcellas site and to collect seedlings from inside the park’s boundaries. They are also currently developing plans to reforest up to two hundred acres in close proximity to ASRI’s plots, and data from the Lamon Satong site has come in especially handy during consultations concerning the new project.
Neighbouring Communities
Community participation and support have been among the main priorities of the restoration program; the sites themselves were chosen based on the level of community support and access of the project site for educational purposes. The project offers immediate benefits for local livelihoods and local health, as all of the labor is provided by villagers. Many of the seedlings planted in 2009 were obtained through trades with community members who in return received treated bed-nets that help combat malaria – a disease whose prevalence rate often increases in areas of deforestation, and one that ASRI is committed to fighting through a combination of nets and reforestation.
In every step of the project community leaders have been invited to provide input into methodology, materials, and manpower, as the kepala desa or village heads often know the communities and their resources best. The workload is divided amongst the villages near the project site and the workers themselves selected by the village leader. Community education events as well as celebrations are held at or near the Restoration Project and are attended by various leaders, school groups, governmental officials and ASRI staff.
Towards the dry season, a fire response team is assembled from the neighbouring villages and trained to both protect the site from fire occurring and fight any fires that do occur. As fire has historically been a major issue preventing natural regeneration of degraded forest in the area, this particular dimension of the project is taken very seriously. It is however worth noting, that the dry season of 2010 has seen heavy rainfall multiple times a week; a phenomenon many suspect can be attributed to global climate change.
Other Southeast Asian Forest Restoration Projects
- Alam Sehat Lestari, West Kalimantan (sponsored by Health in Harmony)
- Samboja Lestari, East Kalimantan (also reports on Ecowarriors, TED, SciAm, redapes.org, Create a Rainforest)
- Central Kalimantan Peat Project
- Harapan Rain Forest, Sumatra
- ALTO/Tompotika, Sulawesi
- Forest Restoration Unit, Thailand
- Indonesian FORDA (MoF) project in Aceh. 48 ha replanted.
Resources
- Nursery plants- for more information about species used in ASRI restoration projects
- General List of Plants
- Scientific Names of Species
- Taxa in nursery
- People
- Bibliography
- Flickr
- mutuelle
(This site is enhanced for the Semantic Web, using Semantic MediaWiki)
