Help restore Indonesia forest

On July 19, 2008 The Jepara Forest Conservancy (JFC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Perum Perhutani (PP), Indonesia's state-owned forestry management company, to create, implement and manage, for at least thirty years, a Technical Plan for Reforestation Implementation (Rancangan Teknik Pelaksanaan Reboisasi-RTPR) on 260 hectares of Mount Muria, located in north central Java.

In September, 2008, the Jepara Forest Conservancy enabled four young men from villages near the Muria forest restoration site to attend the Learning Farm's organic agro-forestry program, located near Bogor, in west Java. They returned to the community in January to lead in planning and implementing the project's planting and cultivation schedule.

On December 6, 2008 a Jepara Forest Conservancy inauguration ceremony occurred on Mount Muria to recognize and celebrate the Jepara Forest Conservancy’s first forest restoration project. The ceremony occurred in the village Kunir, located on the northwest slope of Mount Muria in Central Java Province, about fifty miles from Tropical Salvage’s principal production facility. Approximately five-hundred people attended the ceremony. Among those who attended were Indonesian government administrators working in Central Java Province, mayors from both the cities Jepara and Semarang, Central Java’s Director of Forestry, Tropical Salvage’s founder, Tim O’Brien, the founders of the Jepara Forest Conservancy, Agus Rafiqkoh and Adi Sunaryo, and hundreds of people living near the forest restoration site. A gamelan band accompanied the event with traditional music and several principal attendees issued statements in support of the project and emphasizing the necessity to modify land-use strategies to reverse trends of environmental destruction and related social instability. The ceremony also initiated a schedule to plant thirty thousand tree seedlings through December.

On April 15, 2009 soil samples from the JFC site were sent for analysis to the Seameo Biotrop Services Laboratory in Bogor, Java. From the analysis we will learn the soil's composition at different parts of the site and to what degree those areas are suited to growing coffee, cacao and other productive crops scheduled for planting. We will learn more about what tree species native to central Java are likely to thrive at the site. We also want to learn what deficiencies the soil might have and, if it has any, what organic strategies we might apply to improve on them. Additionally, we want to know if evidence of chemical pesticides and herbicides exists in the soil and, if so, how pronounced they are and what organic strategies might be applied to reduce them. As JFC will seek organic certification for its products, it's important that chemicals that might have accumulated in the soil be characterized and quantified.

On April 25, 2009 the Jepara Forest Conservancy purchased 21 “Epawa” goats to initiate a herd. Milk from Epawa goats has high nutritional value and is favored in parts of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Brunei, where it fetches a high price. Also, the goats’ skin is regarded by leather workers as a high-grade material and is sought after. The goats’ diet is provided by leaves and grasses that are native to and plentiful on Mount Muria. Also, they’ll be raised without antibiotics and without chemical hormones that hasten or enhance growth. Goat manure will figure importantly into blends of organic fertilizers for trees and plants cultivated at the site. The goat project is one of many JFC has planned to bring sustainable, eco-positive jobs to people living around the forest restoration site. Promising discussions with prospective buyers of products deriving from the goats are already underway.

Pictures:

• The sign designating the Conservancy land is posted (JPG)
• Students who completed the organic agro-forestry program (JPG)
• At the inauguration ceremony for the Jepara Forest Conservancy (JPG)