Planting Techniques and Growth of Dipterocarps in an Abandoned Secondary Forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

A large forest fire occurred in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, from 1982 to 1983, and about 3.1 million ha of forest were lost. Degradation of the damaged forest was further accelerated by shifting cultivation and illegal felling. Various efforts have been made to find an effective and realistic remedy for the degradation (Adjjers et al. 1995; Palmiotto 1993; Nussbaum et al.l995; Ang and Maruyama 1995). One solution is to reforest the degraded forest, which has become an urgent matter in this area. Therefore, silvicultural techniques for reforestation and sustainable forest utilization must be developed. The 3,000 ha Sebulu Experimental Forest, located in Sebulu, East Kalimantan, was granted by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry in 1991, with the aim of developing reforestation techniques and establishing a sustainable management system for the forest. We planted approximately 500,000 seedlings, mainly dipterocarps, on 300 ha of this forest from 1991 to 1997, in order to study and develop the most efficient and cost-effective planting technique. However, in February and March of 1998, the last big forest fire burned 80% of the plantation. In this report the results of various planting methods are described with consideration given to cost savings.