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The storm was right on top of us. A flash of lightning
illuminated the Niari River and the railroad bridge we had
driven across earlier that afternoon in stark black-and-white.
The thunder that followed almost instantly was not a rumble or
even a clap, but the sharp crack of a whip. Rain came down in
sheets, clattering onto the tin roof with enough noise that we
had to shout to be heard over it.
We were a group of nine overlanders, traveling the length of
Africa in our own vehicles. We had made contact with Alan, the
owner of a logging company in the Republic of Congo, who had
generously offered us a place to stay. Normally we would have
been content to sleep in our vehicles, but tonight we were very
happy to be watching the storm play out from the dry verandah of
the company's guesthouse. Alan's Congolese chef, Luc, had
even prepared an excellent meal for us.
Alan's company has concession from the Congolese government to
log about 50 square kilometers, or 300,000 hectares, of the
Congo River basin. The company harvests an average of one tree
per hectare and takes about 40 trees per day generating 2500
cubic meters of hard and soft woods per month. Because of the
high cost of transporting the timber 150km to the coast for
export, only species that fetch high prices on the world market
are exploited.
Felling the Giant
The next day dawned clear and Alan offered to take us to the
forest for a firsthand look at where our fine hardwood dining
tables and coffee tables come from. We followed him in our
vehicles as we made our way slowly up into the concession along
muddy, water covered roads. Alan employs Congolese pygmies to
identify trees for harvest based on type and size.
He introduced us to a team of five laborers who were about to
fell a tree that had been previously identified. They hacked a
footpath through the forest with machetes for us as we followed
them for about 30 minutes into the forest. At one point I looked
back and realized that even with the crude path, I would be
hopelessly lost without our guides to show us the way back to
the road.
Our group looked on quietly as four of the team used machetes to
clear the bark around the base of the tree so that it wouldn't
foul the chainsaw. One man, wielding the chainsaw instead of a
machete, sat quietly on the ground with a file sharpening the
blade of the saw. Inspecting the tree, they discussed which way
it would fall and cleared a path through the underbrush in the
opposite direction in case they were wrong.
Ten Minutes with a Chainsaw
It took ten minutes of work with the chainsaw to finish the job.
The tree seemed to settle heavily on itself, and then slowly
arcing away from us, it cracked and splintered lesser trees in
its path as it crashed to the ground. Light spilled through the
newly created opening in the forest canopy, bathing the black
faces of the workers in sunlight, illuminating the beads of
sweat standing out prominently on their lean and heavily muscled
bodies.
The team went about their work professionally and quietly. They
were proud of their work, and after the tree had been felled
they posed for us around the tree stump displaying the tools of
their trade. In a place where jobs are hard to come by, theirs
was an enviable career.
Logging is one of the largest industries in Central Africa.
According to a recent study by the Japan-based International
Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), 40% of Central Africa's
remaining undisturbed forest now lies within forestry
concessions. The study indicates that selective harvesting, of
the type done on Alan's concession, is a sustainable practice.
Problems arise, however, due to the increased access to forest
areas provided by logging roads. Illegal logging is one such
problem, but far worse is the practice by locals of hunting bush
meat, including forest antelope, bush pigs, primates, and forest
elephants. In some areas, hunting provides up to 80% of the
protein in the average diet.
The cost of wood
Back at the road we were re-united with Alan, who was standing
near an enormous Caterpillar bulldozer. Climb onto the machine,
he said, and you will see why wood is expensive. As we climbed
aboard, I couldn't help thinking that this was far from your
typical tourist experience, even in Central Africa. We were
about to extract a different tree from the forest, one that had
been felled a few days earlier and had been cleared of limbs so
that it could be brought out to a road.
Getting to the tree, through virgin forest, is an exercise in
pure brute force. The Cat's massive diesel rumbled to life, and
after driving for a few minutes the operator turned left,
seemingly at random, into the forest. As we pushed our way into
the forest I was glad for the steel cage that surrounds the
machine's cab as limbs from falling trees began crashing down on
top of us.
The 40-ton machine drove straight through anything less than
about 10cm in diameter, and maneuvered around larger trees to
reach the target log. Workers attached a steel winch cable to
the log and the operator pulled the log out to the road, where a
truck would collect it for transport to the sea. Alan told us
that these machines cost about a half-million dollars each, and
that he expects one to last four years before requiring
replacement.
Cat engineers, he said, visit his operation to learn what breaks
the machines and how to make them stronger. Throughout our visit
Alan seemed eager to show us how difficult it is to extract this
wood from the forest. I asked him whether he'd had any problems
with environmentalists. "Not yet," he said. The Chinese on
their
concessions, he said, clear-cut the land, so he wasn't too
concerned for his operation.
Although the ITTO study indicates that selective logging is a
sustainable practice, some environmental groups disagree.
Sustainable or not, though, as long as there exists a demand for
exotic hardwoods, tropical forests in Central Africa and
elsewhere will be exploited to provide them.
The industry provides much-needed jobs and income for local
people and their governments. With proper management plans and
honest governments that re-invests taxes from logging, Central
Africa's forests can continue to provide for the world demand
for timber without being destroyed in the process.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Witt Sparks
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