In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

538will be very helpful and valuable to protect some target species from extinction.Since FORIS must prioritize its activities so as to promote appropriateresearch on tropical forests in Kalimantan, thus the institute has concentratedits conservation research on developing species collection and seed sourceplantations. The species selected for these plantations have generally beenthose producing commercial timber, such as dipterocarp species, sungkai(Peronema canescens), ulin (Eusideroxylon zwageri), and other valuablespecies found in Kalimantan, such as fruit trees and medicinal plants.Since 1992, FORIS in cooperation with PT Kutai Timber Indonesia(an Indonesian private forestry company) and Sumitomo Forestry (a Japaneseforestry company) has established about 600 hectares of tree plantations inSebulu. Various species have been planted for the rehabilitation of logged-overforests as well as for species collection. With financial support from ITTO, theinstitute has developed 64 hectares of dipterocarp plantations and planted 51hectares of fast growing species to demonstrate silvicultural options for therestoration of burnt forest areas in Samboja. Unfortunately, almost all of theexperimental plantations in Samboja dan Sebulu were destroyed by fire in 1997and 1998.As mentioned earlier, plantations of dipterocarp species in Sebulu wereinitiated in 1992 with the main objective to rehabilitate logged over forests.Planting material was brought from Lampung (Sumatra) and from Sambojaand Berau in East Kalimantan, and about 200-250 seedlings of each specieswere planted. Data on growth of those dipterocarp plantations in the SebuluExperimental Forest still surviving after 1998’s forest fire are presented in Table1.