The conservation of the forest resources of eastern Africa: past influences, present practices and future needs - Biogeography and Ecology of the Rain Forests of Eastern Africa - page 301

generalised classiicaion for internal Forest Divi-
sion management purposes. More recently, a
detailed zonaion format has been adopted by the
Foresry Division, and may soon be in actual ield
use. Catchment forests are those considered of
prime importance for watershed conservaion;
they should not be eploited, and are managed by
staf of central government. Producion forests
are of lesser catchment value, and are exploited
or imber and other resources, usually under the
control of regional govements. The classiica-
ion has no legal basis, may cut across reserve
boundaries, and may be altered at any ime.
Maagi et al. (1979) state that the catchment to
producion forest raio to be about 45:55. In
theory, catchment forest should either not be log-
ged, or logged lightly for selected species. Within
producion forests trees should not be felled
within prescribed distances of sreams and river
banks, nor on slopes greater than specified
inclinaions. In pracice, however, these restric-
ions are not enforced, and there is some
uncertainty as to what consitutes protecion or
producion forest. Poyy (1980) stated that 120
km2 of closed forest in East Usambara are of com-
mercial value and should be logged. This report
says, 'Under present pracices closed forests are
gradually deterioraing or disappearing despite
parial under-use.' It also sresses that most
accessible forest is overexploited and the amount
of valuable imber is dwindling. Many staisical
reviews show a decrease in the harvesing of
indusrial imber, e.g. F AO (l 982a) state that the
volume of non-coniferous round-wood decreased
by 20%, and saw-logs and veneers by 50% from
1970 to 1980. FAO (l 982b) show a decrease in
saw-logs of 65% from 1967-70 to 1975-8. They
qualiy this, however, by suggesing that these
staisics are for recorded removals which are sig-
nificantly smaller than actual removals. The
Nordic Review Mission (1979) recommends that
all Usambara natural forest should be catchment.
Several observers described the severe log-
ging pressures on the East Usambara forests,
e.g. IUCN/CDC (1985), Stuart (1983), and
Hamilton & Bensted-Smith (1990). The national
and intenaional ourage at the scale of land
degradaion involved in the FINNIDA-aided

mechanical logging project in the Usambaras has
served to bring forest conservation issues to
public and govenment attenion. Govenment
intervened to stop all mechanical logging in the
East Usambaras in 1985 but only after the head of
the foreign aid organisaion stated in the world
press that 'logging would coninue in these orests
despite idespread allegaions of environmental
damage' (Hellenius, 1985). A fuller history of how
a foreign aid-industrial company consorium can
break forestry laws and cause such loss is given in
Hamilton & Bensted-Smith (1990). Logging was
largely concenrated in the public, non-reserved
forests and one major effect of the huge level of
canopy clearance (from almost 100% cover to less
than 20%) has been the inflow of people to plant
maize. Those lands ill not bear forest again.
Mechanisaion was too heavy, roads were ruined,
access racks were badly sited, skidding tech-
niques led to accelerated erosion, rees were fel-
led along drainage lines, streams were blocked
and no care was taken of growing stock. Finally,
there was a great lack of monitoring or documen-
taion of eploitaion and forest status. Govern-
ment has rightly declared, 'never again!'.
Sangster (1962) stated that some three quarters
of hardwood imber extracion was taken by saw-
millers and the rest by hand-sawyers, J. F. Red-
head (personal communicaion, 1982) suggested
more than half was pit-sawn; much of this would
be illegal extracion. There is little informaion on
pit-sawing in the forestry literature. As it does not
involve extracion roads and machinery damage, it
is often thought that it has little environmental
impact, e.g. by Kinoi & White (1981) who
invesigated pit-sawing economy and producion
in the Pare Mountains. Hall & Rodgers (1986)
recorded measurements of pit-saw sites in Kim-
boza and showed considerable damage, a single
site averaging 790 m2 clear felled and rampled,
with many (30) smaller trees cut for props and
rollers. In addiion are the problems associated
with small labour camps inside the forest for up to
a month. Further details are given in Lovett
(1985). Rodgers et al. (1979) described canopy
damage caused by heavy logging pressure in
Magombera Forest Reserve. Of nearly 200
canopy segments examined, over 60% had severe