BM Hill soil erosion

I guess three questions should be enough to stir the shit at the Penang state forestry department. Obviously, whoever is helming this department does not know much about what's happening on the ground because I seriously believe that some of his field staff (call them rangers or call them "renjer") are not performing.

My beef with the state forestry department is that there is dereliction of care in the Bukit Mertajam forest reserve. Now, for almost a year, I've been exercising regularly at the forest reserve. At least once a week, people will find me trekking up the BM Hill through the trail that begins from the stream that flows through the park.

On Jan 13 this year, I noticed that a stone slab across a small gully at the forest reserve had collapsed. Erosion had wash away the soil beneath the pathway. It's okay, I had thought to myself then, the forest reserve authorities would know about this soon enough and repair the damage.


But week after week, I saw that nothing had been done to repair the damage. By April, a huge hole had even appeared beside the slab. It was quite clear that the soil was unstable and more of it was being washed away. A second piece of slab had given way and some samaritan - definitely not from the ranger's office - had placed some planks across this damaged area to enable trekkers to cross the gully safely.


But my question is this: how much longer will it take the ranger's office to notice this big hole? This was not at the top of the hill or some unpopular trails that people seldom passed through. This was at the base of the hill, not more than 200 metres from the office. Surely, the department's field staff are required to patrol the park, report any damage and arrange for repair? Don't say no money, okay? Go find the funds! Surely, the department's field staff do not need the people to alert them to this danger? Where are the field staff when you want them? Where can they be? Patrolling the hill trails or...elsewhere?

It's now close to eight months since the slabs collapsed. Although most of the time, the gully is dry, it is totally different when it rains. Here, you can see the dramatic difference when there is water flow. It's no wonder that erosion sets it.


And talking of erosion, the state forestry department must wake up to the fact that unless they do something here FAST, this part of the forest reserve will be damaged irreparably. The water flow has already eroded the earth here and exposed the roots. How much more damage does the department want to compromise the park?



Does the Penang state forestry department have a case to answer? You bet, definitely!