Wehea Forest is a 38,000 ha rainforest located in

East Kutai Regency East Kutai Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kutai Timur) is a regency of East Kalimantan province, Indonesia. It has an area of 35,747.50 km2 and had a population of 253,904 at the 2010 census and 434,459 at the 2020 census. The town of Sangatta is the ...

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. Wehea was declared a protected forest in 2004 by the Wehea Dayak. This project received the Kalpataru Award in 2009, Indonesia's highest environmental honor. It currently is a co-managed forest between the local Wehea Dayak people from the village of Nehas Liah Bing and Wehea Management Body. The Kepala Adat of Nehas Liah Bing is Ledjie Taq.

Description

The Wehea Forest contains 38,000 hectares of mostly undisturbed forest bordered by large tracts of primary and secondary forests classified as logging concessions. Wehea is classified as a logging concession but paperwork has been submitted to change Wehea’s status to protection forest. Approximately 30% of Wehea has been selectively logged, with the last activity taking place in 1996. To date, approximately 40% of Wehea has been lightly explored. Wehea Forest rises from an altitude of 250 m in the east to 1750 m in the west, with forest types ranging from lowland

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

to montane forests. Typical rainfall amounts to 3000 mm per annum with a dry season from June to September and rainy season from November through February. The average temperature ranges from 24 to 35 degrees Celsius. The Wehea Forest is the watershed for the Wehea River in East Kutai Regency and the Long Gi River in the

Berau Regency Berau Regency ( id, Kabupaten Berau) is one of the seven regencies in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The capital is the town of Tanjung Redeb. It has an area of 36,962.37 km2 and had a population of 179,079 at the 2010 census and 24 ...

Biodiversity

Biodiversity studies in Wehea by Integrated Conservation and

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

found it is home to endangered species such as the

Bornean orangutan The Bornean orangutan (''Pongo pygmaeus'') is a species of orangutan endemic to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') and Tapanuli orangutan (''Pongo tapanuliensis''), it belongs to the only genus of great ...

Sunda clouded leopard The Sunda clouded leopard (''Neofelis diardi'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature ...

and

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 ...

. In 2011, a team of scientists re-discovered the endangered Miller's Grizzled Langur in Wehea Forest. Research on the ecology of the

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

and other mammals has been done by

Brent Loken Brent Loken is a global sustainability and food system scientist. His work focuses on feeding everyone on the planet healthy diets within planetary boundaries. He participated in several research and development projects in Borneo and has publish ...

References

External links

Wehea Management Body
{{coord missing, Indonesia East Kutai Regency Geography of East Kalimantan Forests of Indonesia Rainforests Protected areas of Kalimantan Protected areas established in 2004