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Findings: Gardens, Non-Timber Forest Plants and Excluded Species

Findings: Gardens, Non-Timber Forest Plants and Excluded Species Along with damage to Gnali nuts, Rosewood trees were felled into the Ghehe River by ITC operators and Sago Palms were destroyed via sedimentation of the wetlands systems in which they occur downstream from logging areas. Landowners pointed to several fruit bearing individuals which were not killed during the actual extractive component of the logging operation, but which died subsequently as a result of damage incurred during the logging of their forest lands. The most common cause of mortality of these residual trees was damage to the stems from machinery used during road/skid track construction or maintenance, felling operations or timber extraction.

In November, 1996, Hugo Ragoso and his brother (residing in Buala) returned to Sakalena to discover that gardens and the stream had been spoiled by an ITC dozer. Complaints to ITC and requests for compensation have fallen on deaf ears. As a consequence some of their family had to leave the area.

At meetings held in Ghoveo and Dovanare villagers said that logging was making it more difficult for them to find non timber forest products and required longer trips from the village. As traditional building and hunting methods and craft production are still actively engaged in and passed down, the protection of forests is necessary for the maintenance of traditional practices.

Many of the regularly utilised species from the forest mosaic are later successional species. These are obviously displaced in logged areas. In addition, those species associated with large stemmed trees, e.g. particular epiphytes and associated flora, are lost until structural and floristic recovery occurred with the subsequent colonisation of such flora. Construction materials for traditional housing, along with many medicinal plants, are those most commonly associated with the mature phase forest.