Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (also called ''Bukit Tiga Puluh'' and ''Bukit Tigapulah'') - ''The Thirty Hills'' - is a 143,223 hectare

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in eastern

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, consisting primarily of tropical lowland forest, largely in

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

province, with a smaller part of 33,000 ha in

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and spans to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is Jambi. The province has a land area of 50,160.05 km2, and a sea area of 3, ...

province. It is famous as one of the last refuges of

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

such as the Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran tiger,

Sumatran elephant The Sumatran elephant (''Elephas maximus sumatranus'') is one of four recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2011, IUCN upgraded the conservation status of the Sumatran elephant from endang ...

, and Asian tapir, as well as many endangered bird species. It forms part of the Tesso Nilo Complex

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

hotspot. The Park is inhabited by the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

peoples of the

Orang Rimba The Orang Batin Sembilan, Orang Rimba or Anak Dalam are mobile, animist peoples who live throughout the lowland forests of southeast Sumatra. Kubu is a Malay exonym ascribed to them. In the Malay language, the word Kubu can mean defensive forti ...

and Talang Mamak tribes. The Park itself has been under consistent threat from

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...

and

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

plantations, with two thirds of the park logged.

Flora and fauna

Ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

types within the Park include lowland and highland forests, with flora such as

Gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ...

Shorea Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. Th ...

, ''

Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, Scholar Tree, Milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia (mainly the Indian subcon ...

'', ''

Dyera costulata ''Dyera costulata'', the jelutong, is a species of tree in the family Apocynaceae. It grows to approximately 60 metres (200 ft) tall with diameters of 2 metres (5 to 6 ft), or even to 80 m (260 ft) tall with diameters to 3&nbs ...

'', ''

Koompassia excelsa ''Koompassia excelsa'' (known as tualang in Peninsula Malaysia, tapang in Sarawak, mangaris in Sabah, and bangris in Kalimantan ) is an emergent tropical rainforest tree species in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phi ...

'', ''

Rafflesia hasseltii ''Rafflesia hasseltii'' is a parasitic plant species of the genus ''Rafflesia''. It can be found in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. Uses Traditional tribes such as the Orang Asli sell the flowers as a folk medicine. Researcher ...

'', ''

Calamus draco ''Calamus draco'' is an Asian species of rattan plant in the family Arecaceae; its native range is from peninsular Thailand to western Malesia.Willdenow CL (1799) ''Species Plantarum. Editio Quarta. Berolini''

erlin Erlin may refer to: Places *Erlin, Changhua, a township in Taiwan *Erlin, Ohio, an unincorporated community in the United States People *Robbie Erlin Robert Joseph Erlin (born October 8, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher wh ...

ed. 4 2(1): 203. It is a ...

'' and various other kinds of

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...

.Ministry of Forestry: Bukit Tigapuluh National Park
, retrieved 11 June 2010 According to a 1994 survey Bukit Tigapuluh National Park has 59 species of mammal, including six species of primate and 18 species of bat, in addition to 198 species of bird and various species of butterfly. Mammals include Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran tiger,

, Asian tapir,

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

siamang The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching in height, a ...

crab-eating macaque The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaqu ...

Sumatran surili The black-crested Sumatran langur (''Presbytis melalophos'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to Sumatra in Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat los ...

Sunda loris The Sunda slow loris (''Nycticebus coucang'') or greater slow loris is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to Indonesia, West Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore. It measures from head to tail and weighs between . ...

, clouded leopard,

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the ...

, Asiatic wild dog,

Malayan civet The Malayan civet (''Viverra tangalunga''), also known as the Malay civet and Oriental civet, is a viverrid native to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Bangka, Borneo, the Riau Archipelago, and the Philippines. It is listed as "Le ...

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

Sumatran serow The Sumatran serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis sumatraensis''), also known as the southern serow, is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to mountain forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was previo ...

and

Java mouse-deer The Java mouse-deer (''Tragulus javanicus'') is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Tragulidae. When it reaches maturity it is about the size of a rabbit, making it the smallest living ungulate. It is found in forests in Java and perhap ...

.Bukit Tigapuluh National Park Bureau: Fauna
, retrieved 11 June 2010 Bird species include:

great argus The great argus (''Argusianus argus'') is a species of pheasant from Southeast Asia. It is not to be confused with the two species of closely related crested argus, genus ''Rheinardia''. Taxonomy Carl Linnaeus gave the great argus its specifi ...

, little green-pigeon,

white-rumped shama The white-rumped shama (''Copsychus malabaricus'') is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. Native to densely vegetated habitats in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, its popularity as a cage-bird and songster has led to it ...

white-bellied woodpecker The white-bellied woodpecker or great black woodpecker (''Dryocopus javensis'') is found in evergreen forests of tropical Asia, including the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has 14 subspecies, part of a complex including the Andaman w ...

, crested serpent-eagle,

Hill myna ''Gracula'' is a genus of mynas, tropical members of the starling family of birds found in southern Asia and introduced to Florida in the United States. Taxonomy The genus ''Gracula'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnae ...

helmeted hornbill The helmeted hornbill (''Rhinoplax vigil'') is a very large bird in the hornbill family. It is found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Thailand and Myanmar. The casque (helmetlike structure on the head) accounts for some 11% of its 3 ...

wrinkled hornbill The wrinkled hornbill or Sunda wrinkled hornbill (''Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus'') is a medium-large hornbill which is found in forest in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. The wrinkled hornbill is around 70 cm long, and has a ve ...

white-winged wood duck The white-winged duck or white-winged wood duck (''Asarcornis scutulata'') is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus ''Cairina'' with the Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and allied with the dabbling ducks. However, mtDNA cy ...

, Storm's stork,

garnet pitta The garnet pitta (''Erythropitta granatina'') is a species of bird in the family Pittidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. It is th ...

and grey-breasted babbler. The Park also has an important role in protecting the hydrology of the Kuantan Indragiri watershed.

Conservation and threats

In 1982 the National Conservation Plan highlighted the importance of Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem and classified the two conservation areas of Bukit Besar Wildlife Sanctuary (200,000 ha) and Seberida Nature Reserve (120,000 ha) as priority I conservation areas. In 1992 the Indonesian Government in cooperation with the Norwegian Government conducted a research to document the biological value of the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem. As the result of research, the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem with an area of 250,000 ha was recommended to be determined as national park. In 1995 Bukit Tigapuluh was established as national park by Ministerial Decree comprising an area of 127,698 ha. In 2002 its area has been extended to 144,223 ha The Park has been under consistent threat from illegal logging and

plantations, with two thirds of the park logged. Surrounding

buffer zone A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types of buffer zones are demil ...

s and

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

s are diminishing, with 30,000 hectares, the largest area of forest remaining outside the Park, released in May 2009 by the

Indonesian government The term Government of Indonesia ( id, Pemerintah Indonesia) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively to the three traditional branches of government – the executive branch, legislative branch and ju ...

for logging.

Orangutan reintroduction

The orangutan reintroduction in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park is organized by the

Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) is a collaborative project involving Indonesian NGO Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL) - as the main implementer in Indonesia, its Swiss partner the PanEco Foundation, and the Indonesian Ministry ...

(SOCP). The first reintroduction station for orangutans close to the park was built in 2001 by the German biologist Dr. Peter Pratje, with the support of

Frankfurt Zoological Society Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) is an international conservation organization founded in 1858 with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. FZS focuses on maintaining biodiversity and conserving wildlife and ecosystems in protected areas an ...

and local partners. It offers a school-like programme to train individual orangutans, which grew up in captivity, to survive the wild. In 2002 the Batu Mbelin orangutan quarantine centre was completed near Medan in North Sumatra, which is operated by PanEco. In December 2002 the first orangutans were transferred from the quarantine centre to the rehabilitation centre near Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and reintroduced shortly after. Nowadays two orangutan reintroduction stations are operated close to the park’s boundaries which focus on reintroducing the animals to the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. Since then, over 190 orangutans have been treated at the quarantine centre and over 160 of these have already been transferred to Bukit Tigapuluh for reintroduction under the auspices of the

. At least 4 infants have also been born to reintroduced mothers, these infants being the first to be conceived and born in the forests of Jambi possibly for more than 100 years.

Cats

Camera traps set up in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest in March and April 2011 by the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

(WWF) have taken images of 12 rare Sumatran tigers, including a mother playing with cubs. Subsequently, the organisation intensified its campaign against the planned logging of the area. Although the Indonesian government has agreed in 2010 to implement a 2-years moratorium on new forest clearance, the presidential regulation that imposes the moratorium was only signed in May 2011. None of the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape is covered by the moratorium and

Asia Pulp & Paper Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is an Indonesian pulp and paper company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world, it was founded as Tjiwi Kimia by Eka Tjipta Widjaja in 1972. Asia Pulp & Paper is a subsidia ...

plans to clear large areas of the forest. In November 2011, the WWF has announced 5 endangered cats in the forests of Riau. Within 3 months of systematic survey using automatic surveillance cameras at the 'corridor' between the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and Rimbang Baling Sanctuary, they found Sumatran tiger ( ''Panthera tigris sumatrae''), Sunda clouded leopard ( ''Neofelis diardi''), marbled cat ( ''Pardofelis marmoata''), golden cat ( ''Catopurna temmincki'', and leopard cat ( ''Prionailurus bengalensis''). The cats passing the same tracks all the time in the corridor, but both areas connected by corridor are currently threatened by

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

References

External links

Saving Bukit Tigapuluh
video (7:09 min) by

Google Earth Outreach Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

Sumatran Tiger Trust: Bukit Tigapuluh NP
{{authority control National parks of Indonesia Protected areas of Sumatra Orangutan conservation Geography of Riau Geography of Jambi Tourist attractions in Riau Tourist attractions in Jambi Animal welfare organizations based in Indonesia