Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research REPORT 110 ...

Kazimzumbwi Forest Reserve
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5.4.10 PAST CULTIVATION AND SETTLEMENT
Past cultivation and evidence of settlement was common in the south-east and western parts of
the study area. No current activities were witnessed.
5.5 DISCUSSION
Kazimzumbwi FR is still under significant pressure from local communities, although extraction
levels are thought to have decreased in recent time (pers comm N. Kinyau, WCST). Relations
between Government and communities are still poor, although improving slowly, thanks to work
carried out by WCST. Threats from population influxes in the east, as a consequence of
resettlement schemes, significantly increase pressures on the forest reserve and complicate the
work of WCST.
5.5.1 POLE AND TIMBER EXTRACTION
Pole and timber extraction in Kazimzumbwi FR show similar patterns to other forest areas
previously studied by Frontier-Tanzania (1993-1997). Compared to other Coastal Forests,
Kazimzumbwi FR has a low mean percentage of live poles, although similar proportional
densities to Manga Forest Reserve in the East Usambara mountains (Table 12). The proportions
of live timber in Kazimzumbwi FR were similar to that of Genda Genda in northern Tanzania,
whilst cut pole and timber figures were average. The proportion of stems falling naturally was
similar to that in Manga FR, although greater than all other Coastal Forest sites reported here.
Table 12 Mean percentages of natural and man made disturbance of four Coastal Forest sites and
Manga Forest Reserve (East Usambara Mountains). Refer also to Burgess et al. 2000 pp. 282).
Live poles
(%)
Live timber
(%)
Cut poles
(%)
Cut timber
(%)
Total natural
falls (%)
Kazimzumbwi
Forest Reserve 59 19 9 1.4 12
(2001)
Genda Genda
(northern
64.5 17.5 14.6 0.3 4.3
Tanzania) (1993) *
Litipo (southern
Tanzania) (1994) * 82.3 7 7 1.6 2.3
Kimboza (lowland
Ulugurus (1994) * 78 7.2 12 0.3 2
Manga Forest
Reserve (lowland
forest East
Usambara) (1997)
58 26 2 1 14
* NB. In these asterisked forests, poles were classified as 10cm dbh, in others poles
were classified as 5-15cm dbh and timber > 15cm dbh
Although Kazimzumbwi FR shows similar proportional stem densities to that of Manga FR, a
comparison of the highest extraction rates per hectare for timber and poles show Kazimzumbwi
FR to be under much greater pressure (Table 13). The maximum extraction rate of poles per
sample section in Kazimzumbwi FR was more than four times greater than that of Manga FR.
Frontier-TanzaniaCoastal Forest Research Programme