Law enforcement in the gola forest

The Gola Forest is vast: it has an area of 75,000 hectares and it measures 110 kilometeres from one end to the other. The terrain is often rugged and hilly and sometimes swampy. But the forest is beautiful and is some of Sierra Leone’s most untouched forest. It needs protecting from a range of pressures such as hunting, logging and encroachment. To achieve all this the project has a Park Operations team.

Ranger post - Alex Hipkiss/RSPB

The Park Operations Department of the Gola Forest Programme provides protection and support for the management of the Gola Forest and the associated fauna and flora. The department has 25 forest Guards and Rangers with five teams of five forest guards patrolling the forest.

These forest guards have a big task and responsibility to ensure that the entire 74,900 hectare forest is effectively patrolled and its boundaries maintained. These teams patrol deep in the forest for 2-week periods. They interact closely with local communities and collect detailed observations of activities in the forest and report back to head office.

The guards are lead by a technical team of senior foresters who have the additional responsibility of analysing field reports and taking action where appropriate, such as when illegal activities are discovered.

Illegally hunted olive colobus monkey - Jeremy Lindsell/RSPB

The Department is also charged with supporting researchers and tourists who wish to visit the forest, and ensuring their effective guiding and security in the Forest.

Achievements of park operations department

Since June 2007, Park Operations activities have resulted in a drastic reduction of illegal activities in the Gola Forest Reserves, which include: logging, mining, hunting, farming, and settlements.

Hunting is the greatest threat to the survival of endangered species in the Gola Forest, a problem exacerbated by cross border hunters from Liberia. So far, 4 shotguns, 1,283 snares and 114 empty cartridge shells have been confiscated or collected in the forest reserve by forest guards and rangers. Ten arrests of illegal loggers and poachers were made in collaboration with the police.