MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORT MAY 2003

 

Dear Friends

First of all I would like to thank those to whom keep supporting us. We are very grateful that we are getting more and more support. The Australia Humane Society International have sponsored me to go to Sydney to discuss our long term cooperation and to get more support from other parties in Australia. I would like to thank Mr. Michael Kennedy, Mrs Verna Simpson ( HSI ) and family for this opportunity, Kim and Iswahyu Purwanto family who give me a lot of help, Ralph, Mike and Onnie who assisted me to make sure I am not get lost in Sydney, Tasco Corporation who gave us a very special price for their binoculars. I also would like to thank Mr.Kevin Vang from AFAP, Mr. Paul Andrew, Ms. Erna Walfraen, Mr.Matthew Kettle and all Toronga Zoo staff, DR. Ross Perry, Dr Alex Rosenwax and HSI staff for their kind hospitality and support, Ms. Miow Yen Yap who connected me to most of these people.

We sent two villagers (one of them is our staff) to Bali to learn more about art - especially for natural dye on textile and other handycraft. Both of them are learning about how to produce Batik by using Natural dye at Yayasan Pecinta Budaya Bebali's studio and also at Picanida Batik Studio in Pejeng. For carving they are learning at Blusung village where many handycraft are being made by a sustainable sources like coconut shell, wood (mostly from the bay product). For this opportunity we would like to thank Ms. Linda Spalding who is providing funds for their trip to Bali, Yayasan Pecinta Budaya Bebali to allow them to use the studio, Mr. Cokorda Agung Pemayun Kusuma Yudha for the batik training and Mr. Ketut Blusung for carving and handycraft training. We also hope that by sending them to Bali, we will able to open their vision more about the possibility to create something at their village either for local market or international market in the future.

Even though we can still not work at the three orangutan rehab centers in Tanjung Puting National Park, we are still quite productive working on three sites which are Tanjung Harapan Orangutan rehab center, Pesalat for reforestation and at the village with the education and community development program. We hope government (forestry department and local government) will sort out the problems that make some people occupy the other rehab center soon.

Here with our staff report in detail

Sincerely yours,

Drh I Gede Nyoman Bayu Wirayudha
Director

 

ORANGUTAN REHABILITATION

 

This month, the three orangutans that we are rehabilitating are in very good condition, even though we have reduced the provision of supplementary food to once a day.  This action is to help speed up their rehabilitation process and the food we provide is of limited quantity such that they have incentive to find their own food.

 

1^st - 13^th of May

 

We treat Adong, Lady and Butet as usual. Adong dan Lady still slept in their cage every night.  Every 6 hours, we let them out of their cage; feeding was set at 7.30 am.  They indulged in the usual activities such as playing, resting & looking for food.  Adong and Butet always play together whereas Lady tends to sleep on the boughs.  Orangutans of their age spend most of their time in play and rest; they usually also choose playmates of the same age and sex.  With regard to food, Adong and Lady are still very dependant on the food we provide; for food they find in the forest, they still follow whatever Butet eats.

 

On returning from the forest, Adong and Lady usually go into their cage and and every evening we give them fresh leaves that we collect from the forest to use as a base or nest to accustom them to sleeping on leaves and to try to stir their now-dormant instinct for forest living. 

 

For Butet, his abilities are no longer in doubt even though he is still young and ideally should still be with his mother. He is more than able to find his own food and does not rely on the bananas and pineapples we provide.  Even since the first time we released him into the forest, he only takes milk from us, then takes off into the forest.  He forages for himself in the forest and when we followed him, we observed him feeding on young leaves, fruit, palm-cabbage, termites etc.  Currently food and fruit is plentiful in the forest; the kariwaya (Picus Bejamina) has just ripened whereas the Ketiau (Ganua Motleyana) is still ripening.  Even so, we have noticed Butet often frequenting Ketiau trees and eating the unripe fruit.

 

14^th – 21^st May

 

Sadly, on this date, several villagers came again and occupied Tanjung Harapan post where we were carrying out our rehabilitation activities.  They requested that we empty out the camp and consequently we moved to Tanjung Harapan village taking with us Adong, Lady dan Butet in two small cages.  Adong dan Lady were in one cage and they played together; Butet was in a separate cage as we could not fit all three into the one cage.  We continued to provide fresh leaves and observed that Butet attempted to make a nest even in his cage.  He folded leaves and twigs and compressed these so that they were smooth before proceeding to sleep.  Interestingly, a learning process occurred whereby Adong copied Butet’s behaviour even though they were each in their own cage (A suggested reference for those interested is “Orangutan are capable of learning by imitation”- Anne E Russon in Orangutans wizards of the rain forest 1999).

 

 

22^nd May onwards

On this date, the villagers ocupying the camp returned to their village and we went back to the camp.  We returned rather late such that we placed all three orangutans into the socialisation cage.  The next day, we released them and led them to the feeding point by calling to them; in the evening they returned to the forest around the post. 

 

At this time we tried to get them to sleep in the forest; we observed Butet sleeping in his nest whereas Adong and Lady both came down and slept on the ground.  We drove them up the tree, as sleeping on the ground is very dangerous.  Once they both went up, we kept monitoring and when we next checked, Adong had climbed down.  We chased him up again and in half an hour, we checked and this time, he had not climbed down and was sleeping on the tree clasping a bough.

 

On the second day, they slept in the woods around the post.  At 5 pm, we saw Butet making a nest in a Jejambu tree (eugenia sp) whereas Adong dan Lady slept on a tree approximately 4 meters high.  They made a small and very simple nest by heaping small leafy twigs.  When night fell, Adong came down and tried to sleep on the ground.  We chased him up again and he finally slept in a Pempaning tree sitting clasping onto a branch. 

 

On the third and subsequent days, we saw clear positive effects from our “tough love” methods as the orangutans are not indulged and not dependant on sleeping in their cage.  Now they no longer sleep on the ground but in a nest, although they still use Butet’s old nests.  Many times we have observed them sleeping there without placing fresh leaves, unlike the usual practice of orangutans. Even so, we see this as part of the process they have to undergo to enable them to truly maintain themselves in their natural habitat.  We believe that they are now able to hold their own in both hot and wet conditions.

 

Our hope is they will continue to make progress and can stick with the process they are currently undergoing, even though it is undoubtedly a heavy burden for them.  We are extremely thankful to have Butet, as he is teaching valuable things to Adong dan Lady such that they are beginning to live and sleep in nests and find food in the forest.  We hope Butet will revert fully to a wild orangutan before he can be captured by people or hunters and that Adong and Lady will thereby be able to follow his lead.

 

With regards to their health, all three orangutans are in good condition.  Our vet, Dr. Made Sugiarta, carried out a general medical check up on 5^th and 6^th May 2003, which indicated no health problems.

 

Such is our orangutan rehabilitation report this month, we particularly would like to thank all those friends and supporters who have shown such concern for this program for their help and support.  We would greatly welcome any criticisms and suggestions from any party.

 

 

REAFFORESTATION

 

For this month, we carried out reafforestation in two locations viz. around the Tanjung Harapan area (continuation of existing activity) and in a new location, Pesalat district.  We can now carry out this work daily as since 15^th May, we have hired new reafforestation staff such that we now have eight (8) people that is, Pak Dollah, Pak Haderan, Pak Surian, Pak Arbain, Pak Cobe,  Pak Yusran dan Pak Ramian. All these staff members are local people from Tanjung Harapan. The coordinators for the reafforestation activity are Pak Redansyah dan Pak Haderan. Nearly all these staff have proven abilities in planting and farming and also in identification of native trees in Tanjung Puting National Park; some are significant skill such that we now have four (4) traditional botanists.

 

Reafforestation in the Tanjung Harapan area

 

The site is a 10 ha site of peat swamp consisting of grasses (graminie). The reafforestation program in this area is a continuation from previous months. This month, we also monitored the results from the replanting method adopted for seedlings planted in previous months.  We are unable to carry out replanting quickly in this site as we need to clear the soil of very thick fibrous matter and coarse grass.  In addition, rising water has also hampared us.  But we will continue to work and to carry out reafforestation in this area albeit a bit slow.

 

In May, we planted around 160 seedlings native to swampland such as Terantang, Papung, Pulai, Ubar Putih dan Fuak seedlings.  All these types of plants are large plants that grow in peat swamp and are known food sources for orangutan, proboscis monkey, gibbon, long-tailed macaques and other wildlife.  We carried out reafforestation in this area 1-2 times a week as nearly all our weekly reforestation activity is focused on the Pesalat area.

 

 

Reafforestation in the Pesalat area

 

We commenced the reafforestation activity with a field survey on 2-4^th May 2003 to determine the location for the seedlings and the transit post and to measure the size of the area to be reafforested in the first phase.  The next survey was carried out on 17-19^th May with the participation of all new reafforestation staff.  This second survey was to determine the locations for seedling collection.  The location we sought had to have a high density of seedlings.

 

As a precursor to the reforestation work in this area, we had set up two seedling plots, one in Pesalat and the other in Tanjung Harapan village.  As at the end of May, we have collected 135 seedlings including seedlings from the Sundi, Sindur, Semongah and Sintuk Lawang trees. The most stock we have are Nyatoh seedlings as these are naturally densely occuring. The seedlings we have collected are approximately 10-20 cm high, we have deliberately chosen the smaller ones to minimise die-off in the polybags.  Where seedlings have low occurance rate and/or have grown too high, we have left these to grow in place.

 

As a guideline for our "seedling collection" activity, we are planning to carry out an inventory of the types of trees in the Pesalat forest to determine the density of occurance of those seedlings that can be found around relatively intact forest areas.

 

 

SUN BEAR SURVEY (Helarctos Malayanus)

 

This survey is one of the stages of a wider survey on the presence of the sun bear in Tanjung Puting National Park (TNTP).  This is the fourth survey and we expect to continue with these, albeit only with limited samples per survey.  The surveys are to be carried out every month in differing locations to build up sufficient data to compare the presence of sun bear (as estimated from trace data) in each of the areas in the 415,000 ha park.

 

The current survey took place in Pesalat forest, that is the area between the Tanjung Harapan and Pondok Tanggui camps, along the Sekonyer river.  Pesalat Forest is a lowland non-swampy tanah natai forest at an altitude of less than 100meter above sea level.. This forest is still in fine condition and is located at 02^o48'38,0"LS ; 110^o49'48,3"BT.

 

The method used is following the method set out by Gabriella Fredriksson, however we have not yet organised this data formally as comparisons with other locations will be made after all the data for the various locations have been collected.  We selected 2 sites spaced 2000 meters apart, each site measuring 10 m X 1 Km. The observations in each site were carried out by 4 people.

 

Observation Results Data

 

Explanation :

A : Sun bear sighting

B : Sun bear claw marks on trees

C : Traces of destroyed honeycombs in trees

D : Traces of sun bear nests in trees

E : Sun bear vocalisations heard

F : Sun bear pawprint traces on the ground

G : Termite nests destroyed by bears

H : Other traces identified as marks of sun bear

 

As in the previous survey, direct sightings of sun bear in the field are difficult to get, however we still encountered clear traces of the presence of sun bears in the Pesalat forest.

 

From the results of the observations carried out, the traces of sun bear presence in the field are summarised as follows :

 

Traces occuring in the field	Total
Claw marks	29 trees
Traces of destroyed honeycombs found in trees	8 trees
Traces of destroyed termite nests	8 nests
Paw prints on the ground	3 locations
Trace of sun bear nests	2 nests

 

These signs show that the Pesalat forest still form part of the sun bear’s range. Traces of bear nests also prove that sun bears have nested in this forest.  The exact period is not known but according to our observations, the nests encountered had probably been abandoned approximately 5-6 months ago.

 

As supporting evidence, we also encountered a bear nest which was still being utilised by a bear on the 12^th June 2003; the location was outside our sample area but still within the Pesalat forest.  This nest was located in a dry / dead Prapat Bangkit tree 15 meters from the ground, and had a diameter of 90 cm.  This shows that the Pesalat forest is still a nesting area for the sun bear.

 

 

HUMAN & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

 

FNPF is carrying out several human and community development programs in Tanjung Harapan village including a Mengkudu Growing Project and a Cultural Skills Training Project..  In addition, we are providing further support to the village in the form of an Elementary School Program to help nurture children’s potential and carrying out other support activities.  The long-term aim of all of these programs is to assist the village community to find alternative forms of income beside logging and to nurture their human potential.

 

Mengkudu Project

           

This month, we planted nearly 500 mengkudu seedlings; however many died and had to be replaced.  The seedlings were killed primarily due to floodwaters from the Sekonyer river. We are also planning to plant mengkudu seedlings in the Jerumbun area, which is a local farming area located outside the boundaries of Tanjung Puting National Park.

 

Culture Skills Training to Bali

 

This program is aimed to increase the skills of local villages in the arts of batik (traditional cloth motif) and patung (puppets) making.  The program commenced by the sending of 2 villagers, Mr. Hatta and Mr. Kasri, to Bali to undergo further training to enhance their batik and patung skills. Both these men are now hired by FNPF and will work to transmit the skills they have gained to the younger generation on their return..  They will also run workshops for schoolchildren to stimulate interest in the local arts.

 

The longer-term aim of this program is to build a pool of sufficient skill in local arts and crafts such that villagers might be able to stock and eventually run an art shop in the village to cater to tourists and other potential buyers. 

 

Village Elementary School Program

 

This activity is to provide teaching support to the elementary school at Tanjung Harapan  village which currently is lacking in staff.  We are supplementing the curriculum with the teaching of English.  As part of the English lessons, we are incorporating conservation materials and information.

 

We believe this program has the potential to deliver strong benefits by enhancing the English language skills of the villagers, given that the village is located right next to the national park.

 

 

Our intention is that these and other programs will be mutually reinforcing and will also contribute toward supporting an Eco-Tourism program which we hope to introduce in Tanjung Harapan village.

 

 

Village Activities Support

This is not so much a program as an ongoing undertaking.  FNPF provides support towards existing local activities undertaken by the villagers themselves which are deemed to support community wellbeing and development.  These activities include participating in “gotong-royong” (community clean-up efforts) each Friday morning and providing support for sporting acivities which are carried out every evening.  Two popular sports are volleyball and badminton; we have provide Rp 100,000 to purchase volleyballs and we have also provided space for badminton courts.

 

 

WATER TREATMENT REPORT

 

May is the start of the dry season where rainfall is so little as to be practically non-existent. As a result, the polluted Sekonyer river waters caused even more difficulties in preparing clean water for drinking and cooking.

 

The water purification system put in place last December is not being put to maximal use by the villagers. To increase their access to clean water, villagers have made use of the large capacity water treatment system put in place 2 years ago at Tanjung Harapan camp with the aid of Humane Society International (HSI) Australia.  Accordingly, FNPF has been asked to pass on the thanks of the local community to HSI Australia.

 

 

Such is our report for May.  We are very grateful to all our donators who have supported our activities and also to all those who have participated in our programs.