Late last year, after the mud floods in Ringlet on the 5th of November 2014, the Federal Government stepped in to assist the State Government of Pahang to restore Cameron Highlands to its former pristine state ie. to restore law and order, especially where illegal immigrant workers and land clearing is concerned.
As a result of this large scale law enforcement work, many illegal workers were caught and farms demolished. These brought its own set of problems as demolished farms,usually on steep slopes were prone to erosion and the exposed areas had to be rehabilitated fast. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment NRE were tasked to reforest these areas with REACH and 3 other non-governmental agencies NGO .
The NRE reforestation plan (Greening Cameron Highlands Task Force ) spans 5 years which will include regular meetings and activities, including identifying areas to be reforested, collection of wildings, setting up nurseries and actual reforestation itself which is every quarterly.
The wildings (seedlings growing wild and not cultivated) are collected from local forests and species include Meranti bukit, Gerok, Medang kemangi, Mahang, Mempening, Kelai, Berangan and Gandis.
There was also an urgent need to use a cost effective way to cover the exposed areas reclaimed by the government to minimise erosion and water runoff. REACH suggested that areas without top soil should be rejuvenated by a tried and tested way (biodynamic method) using organic materials and a special plough. Such areas have been proven to be covered by crops between 6 to 12 months. Then once rejuvenated, endemic trees can be planted.
On the 7th of March 2015 and 8th of March 2015, more than 500 participants took part in the reforestation in Gunung Siku, Blue Valley.
So currently REACH has 2 main reforestation programmes ie
- Reforestation programmes with NRE. The next one is expected to be in June 2015. The site would be determined by NRE. Once date and site is confirmed it will be published in our website. These programmes are fully sponsored by NRE and locals and non locals can join.
- Reforestation programmes in Gunung Brinchang and other smaller areas. This programme will be conducted by funds from private bodies and are usually for local participants. For the reforestation programmes in Gunung Brinchang it would involve mainly maintenance work and other biodiversity activities such as bird watching or mossy forest educational walks.
For those who would like to participate in the next reforestation activity whether as an individual or as a group please send your email to reach.cameronhighlands@gmail.com or nitiya31880@yahoo.com