Forest In The Middle Of Balikpapan Part I

From The Magazine Of Garuda Indonesia

In the northern part of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, is a conservation and research area teeming with diverse life form and extraordinary tourism potential.

The forest area was first designated a “covered forest” (Hutan Lindung) by the Sultan Of the Kutai Kingdom in 1934. Then, in 1983, a 3,925 hectare area surrounding the Wain River was declared as Protected Forest by the minister Of Agriculture. In 1988, The Forest Minister designated a further 6,100 ha at Sungai Wain as Protected Forest bringing as the total protected area to 10,025 ha. Since then, it has shrunk slightly to 9,782 due to encroachment by local resident.

The Sungai Wain Protected Forest serves as a source of clean water for both residence of Balikpapan and the needs of the Oil Industry. This Lowland Forest covers a limited area, yet is home to many creatures rarely found elsewhere, including bear and no less the nine species of primates, including silver Gibbons (owa-owa), Proboscis Monkey (Bekantan), orang utan, Black Leaf Monkey (Lutung), Pigtailed monkeys (beruk) and Mocaques (monyet ekor panjang).

The Orangutan that inhabit this forest were released back into the wild by Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) gradually starting in the early 1990’s – around 80 individual in all. The forest is also the habitat of many bird and insect species.

The forest also contain many lowland plant species, include several rare species, such as various type of pitcher plant (kantong semar), orchids (anggrek) and Balikpapan ginger (Jahe Balikpapan) which is found only in this forest.