Article: Sanctuary in jeopardy

Tuesday June 9, 2009

By FOONG THIM LENG

THE Kinta Nature Park in Batu Gajah with the largest heronry in the country is in danger of being destroyed unless proper management is implemented fast by the Perak Government.

Already, the RM600,000 tax payers' money spent by the authorities to build a watch tower, shelter, cabins and toilet facilities in the early 2000s had gone to waste because of poor management and inadequate protection.

A recent visit to the park reveals significant damage and encroachment in the 950ha park located about 2km from Batu Gajah town.

Established in 2001 with the cooperation of Malaysian Nature Society and Kinta Barat District Council, the park consists of 14 ex-mining ponds and is home to at least 130 bird species with almost 60% of them listed as totally protected or protected under the Protection of Wild Life Act 1976.

The park is popular among nature lovers, photographers and bird watchers because of its waterbirds and serene environment.

In recent months, a bank of the Sungei Kinta burst and water gushed into the main pond causing floods in the park.

Many dead trees and aquatic plants were left on shore when the flood water receded.

Vandals have destroyed the decorative posts for signage and information boards.

Pavilions built on the banks have been overgrown and bridges linking the various ponds have collapsed or are in bad shape.

The size of the park has being reduced and the vegetation changed by the setting up of duck farms and sand mining activities which seem to have gone out of control.

Fishing using cast nets have become rampant in the park.

Ornithologist Lim Kim Chye from the Malaysian Nature Society, who helped set up the park, said the problems existed because it had yet to be gazetted as a state park.

"The poor state of affairs in the park is due to changes of personnel in the district office and the state government," he said in an interview.

Lim said the problem of gazetting the park could also link to the alienation of 72 ha of the park for tin mining purposes in the late 1990s.

However, Lim said that no tin mining activity had been carried out in the designated area and the mining lease would be lapsed by now.

The park is the only place in the peninsula with a heronry which is the breeding ground and home of five species of water birds. At least 2,000 birds could be found there.

They are the cattle egret, little egret, purple heron, the black-crowned night heron and the grey heron, he said.

The globally-threatened Straw-headed Bulbul, wildlife like the smooth otter, mongoose and long tailed macaque had also been sighted in the park.

The flora included the Vanda hookeriana, lotus flowers and the rare golden bladderwort.

Vanda hookeriana is one of the parent species of the hybrid Vanda 'Miss Joaquim', the national flower of Singapore.

Lim suggested that the park be gazetted as a wildlife sanctuary fast and be placed under the management of the Perak State Parks Corporation.

He said the park had historical value, being a legacy of the tin ,mining industry in the Kinta Valley.

The park is larger than the Taiping Lake Garden and the lake gardens in Kuala Lumpur.

With proper management, it has lots of potential as an eco-tourism spot, nature education centre and a place for nature awareness events and thus, bringing fringe economic benefits to the people in Batu Gajah.

State Industry, Investment, Entrepreneur Development, Information Communication Technology, Tourism and Womens Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Hamidah Osman agrees that the park has potential and needs to be gazetted.

She said there were plans to gazette the Kinta Nature Park as a state park in 2007.

The matter had lapsed due to the political situation in the state.

"We will now look into the matter again and find out the present status regarding the area alienated for mining," she said when contacted.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Metro: North 9 June 2009