Mpanga-Site-Visit-Re.. - Cycad Specialist Group

situation over translocations of the cycads and secure the necessary oversight.
However, the continued lack of local conservation initiative and what appears to be
no change in long term planning for the area, means that the cycads still have a
very uncertain future and a superb asset for the Ugandan people is still being
undervalued.
Photo 14. Chainsaw operation on Cycads
The most surprising discoveries of this survey were that no complete botanical
inventory has been carried out (neither within the impoundment area nor below the
dam), thus it is unknown what other species of conservation concern exist within
the Gorge. Nor have any baseline vegetation studies been carried out so that the
impact of the reduction in the dry season flow (to 1 cumec along the section of the
Gorge from the dam to the power house) will not be measurable in the future. It is
still not too late to complete these studies before the project becomes operational
(probably not before December 2010). It is probable that knowledge of the other
sections of biodiversity is equally poor and that mammalogy, ornithology,
herpetology and invertebrate studies are still necessary (certainly no census has
been carried out on the Red Listed Red Colobus, Procolobus rufomitratus
tephrosceles). Although the initial impression was that the Cynometra forest
(photo) was not very plant species rich, it is not known what else it shelters and
whether it will be impacted by the unforeseen effects of the project (Photo 15).