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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

DESCRIPTION OF LOGGING IMPACTS

LR 686

Photographic Plates 1 to 21, 29 ( Landowner representative, - Gorrenze Rozo, Buala)

These lands abut Estrella Bay and, as the accompanying photographic plates clearly illustrate, the logged over forests within LR 686 exemplify the breadth of environmental damage associated with ITC logging operations in this area.

The following impacts were consistently observed as widespread poor logging practices within LR 686:

Steep slopes disturbed by harvesting operations were falling away into streams; the major bridge across the Ghehe River had collapsed; most culverts were blocked by sediment and debris; only short sections of roadway were trafficable due to slumps and landslides; felling occurred right to the line of low volume flow along the banks of the Ghehe River and other waterways with little cognisance of the buffer zones required under the terms of the logging agreement; Pterocarpus indicus (Rosewood) felled and subsequently dropped across the Ghehe River downstream of the collapsed bridge between the stream bed and the main logging road (which was also collapsing into the Ghehe River at this point due to a complete loss of vegetation from the intervening slopes); logging and skid track placement on slopes identified on logging plan as too steep for logging; abandonment of felled stems within the coupe; and, destruction of Canarium indicum (Gnali nut) trees (bearing and non bearing).

The degree of impact within individual logging coupes can be gauged by data gathered from a randomly selected site within a typical hillslope logged over forest previously dominated by Pometia pinnata. More than 80 % canopy cover had been removed and virtually all of the soil surface had been disrupted with loss of litter layer and machinery related topsoil turning (blading) evident across the entire area. Small drainage lines were blocked with a combination of logging debris and sediment carried from skid tracks and roads into waterways. Skid tracks were located on slopes of up to 41o with bedrock exposed in places where the topsoil had been completely lost by water erosion. No post harvest cross drain instatement was noted in this area.

Only 5-6 stems per hectare were harvested from this area - a small return for the machinery operating and fuel costs associated with the extensive blading of this coupe. The residual stand was already beginning to be smothered by Merremia peltata. Adjacent areas which were logged only 2-3 years previously had the remnant spars moribund under a sea of Merremia peltata which had even out-competed the secondary species such as Macaranga spp. Two Canarium indicum (Gnali nut) trees left in this coupe were now dead due to stem and bark damage from logging machinery. Another gnali nut which had been knocked over during logging was almost dead beneath the soil which had been pushed up to cover another felled, but abandoned, stem of Pometia pinnata. The residual stand has little hope of yielding another commercial return for many decades and may be maintained as a vine dominated deflected succession with little likelihood of structural recovery of commercially valuable species.

LR 687

Photographic Plates 22 to 38 (Landowner representative - Eric Bako, Buala)

The comments applied to the previous land unit (LR 686) could equally be applied to this logged over forest area, and non-compliance with logging agreements was similar. Reference to the photographic plates supports the various contentions listed previously for LR 686.

One of the most dramatic observations was along a section of a major tributary of the Kahigi River where logging had occurred across a peninsula jutting out into the stream. The stream was blocked in several places by crowns of felled trees and earth and gravel pushed into the waterway by logging machinery (illustrated in the accompanying photographic plates). A buffer zone had been marked, but totally ignored with a plethora of skid tracks, stumps and piled earth and stagnant ponds providing ample evidence of the blatant ignorance of some of the most basic of sound forest management practices. The buffer zone was only 22.5 m in width. The field worker had estimated it to be 50 m, but he had never been shown examples of measured 50 m buffer zones, nor was he provided with any means to establish this buffer strip at the time of harvest planning. The machinery operators obviously ignored the inaccurate buffer zone anyway, so the hiring of personnel to mark these zones is apparently pointless.

The road which was constructed in September 1996 is now totally impassable with blocked culverts, landslides, slumps and collapsed bridges (including the major crossing of the Kahigi River). Logging and extraction were completed in January/February 1997. Thus, the area has fallen into total vehicular inaccessibility in a period of only 3-4 months. This situation exemplifies a constant scenario across all ITC logged over areas investigated in the current study.

LR 689

Photographic Plates 34, 39 to 49 (Landowner representative - James Tikani, Ghoveo)

This land parcel is currently the subject of intense dispute. A letter was sent by James Tikani (school teacher at Ghoveo) on 23rd December 1996 informing the General Manager, ITC that they have no legal right to enter land. This had no impact upon field operations and Pedro and Raymond (ITC employees) told the landholders that they had no right to enter their own lands when we initially went to discuss logging operations by ITC within the study area. This impasse was only resolved by our return to Buala for confirmation of the landholder’s legal right of access to their own lands by the Provincial Secretary. This meant a costly delay in field investigations and intimidated some landholders to the extent that they were reluctant to return to their lands for the purpose of this environmental impact assessment.

The landowners further sent a letter dated 9 January 1997 to the General Manager, Isabel Timber Company advising them of Termination of Timber Rights Agreement as far as it covers LR 689. This followed correspondence with the Commissioner of Forests on 23rd December 1996 informing him of the demand to exclude LR 689 from ITC’s felling licence. Earlier correspondence highlighted the apparent illegality of the granting of this licence and the request for immediate cessation of logging activities. To date, logging operations continue unabated despite the correspondence and lack of legal clarity for the ITC operation.

The operations which James thought had only progressed to the Sidu River were now south and west of the bridge over the river (already partially collapsed and temporarily repaired for the expanding logging operations within LR 689). Much of the soil around this bridge had been churned over by machinery and many stagnant ponds made foot traverses of this area difficult and provided an ideal mosquito breeding habitat.

Ample evidence was apparent throughout the area of LR 689 to support termination of the logging agreement as per the Standard Logging Agreement. However, the speed of the field operations suggest that commercially viable stands of timber within James’s land would have been harvested by the time termination has been enforced, if this situation was ever realised with the inability for the TCU to physically access the area or serve suspension and/or termination notices.

LR 691

Photographic Plates 44, 50 to 52 (Landowner representative - Robinson, Ghoveo)

Firstly, it would appear that the logging rights of this land parcel (LR 691) were not vested in all of the persons who signed the logging agreement. Robinson, who claims partial ownership was not present when the agreement was presented to the community on Isabel. He was not a signatory to the logging agreement and it was signed without his authorisation. He states that his lands have been logged without his permission.

The land parcel was subjected to two separate logging operations, the most recent was completed only 8 months previously. The bridges over all major waterways have all collapsed with other culvert collapse reducing the lengths of road which could be traversed by a vehicle even if access were at all feasible from the abandoned log pond. Rampant growth of Merremia peltata across all road and skid track surfaces all but prevented pedestrian access in many areas. This situation will only worsen with time making hunting and natural resource access, even on foot, impractical.

The time since logging has allowed secondary regrowth to reduce the sediment loads being transported from logged over areas into the streams draining LR 691. The large volumes of sediment already in the hydrological regime continue to impact upon estuarine and marine areas along with the freshwater areas from whence they were transported initially.

Road, skid track, culvert and bridge construction were all of similar standard to other ITC infrastructure referred to in previous sections. Thus, other aspects of their operations in this area could be expected to reflect those environmental impacts seen elsewhere within their operations on Isabel Island. The only saving grace for this land parcel is that hillslope forests are less frequent and hence the slope related landscape degradation was not as common. Gully and sheet erosion were in evidence, however, where slopes were encountered in this area