Forest Health Monitoring - Protecting Forests in the Eastern Arc Mountains - Update

Background

The Eastern Arc Mountains are one of 24 globally important hotspots for forest biodiversity, according to Conservation International. These mountains also serve as water catchments for urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Morogoro, Tanzania. The forests provide firewood, medicinal plants, lumber, and other forest-related products. Local villagers depend on these forests to live.

In place of closed mountain forests is now a patchwork of forest fragments and agriculture.

Pilot Study Completed

The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Health Centre in Nairobi (Kenya), Sokoine University in Morogoro (Tanzania), and the University of Georgia completed a pilot study on the health, fragmentation, and loss of forest in the Eastern Arc Mountains of East Africa, in February 1999.

The Forest Service has been active in East Africa since 1994, when a formal agreement led to the creation of the Forest Health Centre in Nairobi. In September 1999, another formal agreement was developed between the Forest Service and the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Sokoine University of Agriculture.

Evaluating forest health and land-use change

In February 2000, the Forest Service began a two-year evaluation of forest health and land-use change in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania. Satellite imagery, permanent plots, and a web page (http://www.easternarc.org) are main components of the study. Information gathered would be used to identify areas where remedial measures are most needed, and—later—how they are working.

The current project involves Forest Service employees Denny Ward (Southern Region), Chuck Dull (Washington Office), Barbara O'Connell (Northeastern Research Station) and Gerry Hertel (Northeastern Area). Keith Douce (University of Georgia ), Dr. Seif Madoffe (Sokoine University) and Professor Joe Mwangi (Forest Health Centre and Moi University) complete the team.

Local projects

Only by engaging local villagers in forest policy and management decisions can the current trends be altered. Local projects are supported by the United Nations Cross-Border Biodiversity Project, East African Wildlife Society, U.S. Agency for Inter-national Development with Tuskegee University, and World Wildlife Fund, among others.

For more information contact Gerry Hertel (610-557-4124 or ghertel@fs.fed.us)..

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