Harfat Logging

Hafat, on the northern chain of islands off Misool, has far more villages in the area than I had realised on our way north. Some of the villagers pass through the anchorage on their way to their daily activities as fishermen. Others are harvesting timber from the jungle. In a bay not far from our anchorage, we found a little gap in the mangroves, big enough for one of the longboats to reach the shore, and from here a logging track wound up across the cliffs.

The land here is porous karst rock, but the jungle has covered the rock with a thick enough layer of humus for large trees to grow. It appears that vegetation gets a good hold of the porous rock, and fibrous roots mat together the leaf litter and decaying sticks. The track up the hill has been cleared by hand, and the rough rocks have been covered by sawn timber boards to enable heavy loads to be carried out by hand by the bare footed locals. The track continued up the hill almost to the saddle facing out to the south, and at a number of places along the way, it was clear that a large tree had been felled, and cut up and carried out.

Examination of the discarded sawn board showed that the saw being used was simply a chain saw, and there was no sign of any mechanical guide for the saw on the remnant logs that were still being processed. The timber appears to be dense and hard, like merbau, but the discarded boards, either split or with damage from borers or hollowed trunk, show that these millers must have excellent skills with the chain saw, and amazing strength to have carried out many trees as cut boards.

Who knows whether this logging is sustainable. There appears to be no monitoring or control. Locals are poor, and will obviously take what they can to survive.