The Batang Toru Forest Revisited [1]
Erwin A Perbatakusuma, Bonni Dewantara and Iwan H Wijayanto [2]
1. Background
The Batang Toru Forest Ecosystem (BTFE) consisted West and East Batang Toru Forest Range. The BTFE is located in North Sumatra Province south of the second world largest lake of Lake Toba . Roads separate West Batang from the East Sarulla area, in which orangutans also are found. Geographically, the BTFE is located at 980 50’ - 99018’ East Longitude and 10 26’ - 1 0 56’ North Latitude. The site is accessible from Medan , 1 hour by plane, and 10 – 12 hours by car. The Batang Toru is a water catchment area that encompasses four regencies : North Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli, Sibolga and South Tapanuli . Primary rain forest dominates the vegetation cover, which grows on steep hillsides with more than a 60-degree slope. Batang Toru holds at least six principal habitat types including moss forest (above 600 meter), hill side moist forest (dominant between 200 m -600 m), lowland, cliffs and talus slopes, secondary forest, and riparian forest. Total existing forest covers approximately 148,000 hectares.
Increasing pressures on forest resources and habitats, including loss and degradation of habitat through land clearing, threaten the remaining Batang Toru forest. In addition, this area includes Batang Gadis, Batang Toru