Bangkok Post January 4

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

There is little ill-equipped park keepers can do to fend off the loggers, who have rich and influential 
people behind them.

The lush national park, covering 450,950 rai, and the wildlife protection zone, which has 546,875 
rai, is being targeted by loggers because fighting between Burmese troops and minority rebels has 
intensified in Burma over the past few years.

Unable to cut trees in the concession areas in Burma, the loggers have turned to forests in their own 
country.

Since there is a logging ban in Thailand, the logs have to be moved to the Burmese border to 
receive "official" seals and certificates of origin to show that the trees were chopped in Burma.

Game wardens deny they have turned a blind eye to the activities but calls to supervisors to help 
support campaigns to stop forest destruction have fallen on deaf ears.

Ministers inspected the national park twice last year but no concrete action was taken. The media 
has also paid scant attention to the subject. 

It was only recently that the logging made headlines when 200-1,000 illegally-cut logs were found 
floating in several tributaries of the 127km Salween River. Most were tied together in readiness to 
be floated to Burma.

Park officials, however, were not rewarded. Instead, they faced an investigation into their alleged 
negligence in protecting the forests.

A ranger complained that the law gave forest protection units little room to act. He said his unit 
could not pull the logs from the streams because the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Act bans 
the removal of logs from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The rangers were also no match for the armed rebel forces which protected the illegal loggers.

All units were low on staff, vehicles, petrol and patrol boats as well as back-up forces.

Since the officials could do nothing, the logs found last year had since disappeared.

"We were like a dog that could only bark but not bite," the ranger said.

Border clashes caused Thai loggers to leave Burma and it was now safer and cheaper to cut trees in 
Thailand.

The source said logging operators would hire Karen refugees to fell trees in Salween National Park 
and game reserve.

Some would be processed in the forests or the bark would be stripped off to make them look like 
processed logs, which were legally allowed to be shipped in.

The timber would then be hauled by elephants to the Salween River before being floated to Burma 
under heavy guard. 

After the logs were given Burmese certification they would be brought back into Thailand via Ban 
Mae Sam Laeb in Mae Hong Son's Sob Moei district and from there would be taken to saw mills in 
Mae Sariang.

The estimated cost for each logging operation was 30,000 baht, excluding bribes paid to 
government officials.

Corruption and betrayal are common. A C-5 forestry official in Mae Sariang, said to have 
connections with the illegal loggers, had vanished and eight others were investigated for extortion. A 
junior policeman was dismissed for helping the loggers.

Milling logs is a lucrative business in Mae Hong Son. In 1995 and 1996 alone, the provincial 
commerce office approved 10 applications for the setting up of sawmills. A number of unlicensed 
sawmills are also operating along the Thai-Burmese border.

Deputy police chief Salang Bunnag, who oversees campaigns against the destruction of natural 
resources, said the logs seized from the Salween River were all cut in Thailand.

But Paijit Wongvibul, the Mae Sariang forestry chief, argued that the wood brought in through Ban 
Mae Sam Laeb had been produced in Burma.

A suppression centre against illegal logging set up early last year is now dealing with 21 illegal 
logging cases after having confiscated 1,140 teak logs in the Salween National Park and 546 in the 
Salween Wildlife Sanctuary.

As the logs could not be removed, the officials had marked them.

Shortly afterwards those logs disappeared but were later imported "legally" into Thailand by 
authorised firms.

The source said many companies had asked the provincial administration to open temporary 
checkpoints at several passes in Mae Sariang, Sob Moei, Khun Yuam and Muang districts to help 
get the logs out of Burma.

However, these routes would also cut into the Salween and Mae Pai national parks, he said.

Permission for log imports, rather than processed wood imports, has not yet been granted as 
security agencies are worried that wood brought in might have been cut in Thai forests.

Pol Gen Salang supported the closure of the border passes. He also suggested that the Forest 
Industry Organisation leave dead trees found in the forests there for five years before felling them.

This is to prevent loggers from "killing" the trees.

Pol Gen Salang's advice, however, may go unheeded considering his fading role following the 
collapse of the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government.

The source said news about log seizures might stop illegal operations for a short while but it would 
soon resurface. 

Pushing minority refugees back to Burma had also been suggested as a way of tackling the problem.

There is little ill-equipped park keepers can do to fend off the loggers, who have rich and influential 
people behind them.

The lush national park, covering 450,950 rai, and the wildlife protection zone, which has 546,875 
rai, is being targeted by loggers because fighting between Burmese troops and minority rebels has 
intensified in Burma over the past few years.

Unable to cut trees in the concession areas in Burma, the loggers have turned to forests in their own 
country.

Since there is a logging ban in Thailand, the logs have to be moved to the Burmese border to 
receive "official" seals and certificates of origin to show that the trees were chopped in Burma.

Game wardens deny they have turned a blind eye to the activities but calls to supervisors to help 
support campaigns to stop forest destruction have fallen on deaf ears.

Ministers inspected the national park twice last year but no concrete action was taken. The media 
has also paid scant attention to the subject. 

It was only recently that the logging made headlines when 200-1,000 illegally-cut logs were found 
floating in several tributaries of the 127km Salween River. Most were tied together in readiness to 
be floated to Burma.

Park officials, however, were not rewarded. Instead, they faced an investigation into their alleged 
negligence in protecting the forests.

A ranger complained that the law gave forest protection units little room to act. He said his unit 
could not pull the logs from the streams because the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Act bans 
the removal of logs from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The rangers were also no match for the armed rebel forces which protected the illegal loggers.

All units were low on staff, vehicles, petrol and patrol boats as well as back-up forces.

Since the officials could do nothing, the logs found last year had since disappeared.

"We were like a dog that could only bark but not bite," the ranger said.

Border clashes caused Thai loggers to leave Burma and it was now safer and cheaper to cut trees in 
Thailand.

The source said logging operators would hire Karen refugees to fell trees in Salween National Park 
and game reserve.

Some would be processed in the forests or the bark would be stripped off to make them look like 
processed logs, which were legally allowed to be shipped in.

The timber would then be hauled by elephants to the Salween River before being floated to Burma 
under heavy guard. 

After the logs were given Burmese certification they would be brought back into Thailand via Ban 
Mae Sam Laeb in Mae Hong Son's Sob Moei district and from there would be taken to saw mills in 
Mae Sariang.

The estimated cost for each logging operation was 30,000 baht, excluding bribes paid to 
government officials.

Corruption and betrayal are common. A C-5 forestry official in Mae Sariang, said to have 
connections with the illegal loggers, had vanished and eight others were investigated for extortion. A 
junior policeman was dismissed for helping the loggers.

Milling logs is a lucrative business in Mae Hong Son. In 1995 and 1996 alone, the provincial 
commerce office approved 10 applications for the setting up of sawmills. A number of unlicensed 
sawmills are also operating along the Thai-Burmese border.

Deputy police chief Salang Bunnag, who oversees campaigns against the destruction of natural 
resources, said the logs seized from the Salween River were all cut in Thailand.

But Paijit Wongvibul, the Mae Sariang forestry chief, argued that the wood brought in through Ban 
Mae Sam Laeb had been produced in Burma.

A suppression centre against illegal logging set up early last year is now dealing with 21 illegal 
logging cases after having confiscated 1,140 teak logs in the Salween National Park and 546 in the 
Salween Wildlife Sanctuary.

As the logs could not be removed, the officials had marked them.

Shortly afterwards those logs disappeared but were later imported "legally" into Thailand by 
authorised firms.

The source said many companies had asked the provincial administration to open temporary 
checkpoints at several passes in Mae Sariang, Sob Moei, Khun Yuam and Muang districts to help 
get the logs out of Burma.

However, these routes would also cut into the Salween and Mae Pai national parks, he said.

Permission for log imports, rather than processed wood imports, has not yet been granted as 
security agencies are worried that wood brought in might have been cut in Thai forests.

Pol Gen Salang supported the closure of the border passes. He also suggested that the Forest 
Industry Organisation leave dead trees found in the forests there for five years before felling them.

This is to prevent loggers from "killing" the trees.

Pol Gen Salang's advice, however, may go unheeded considering his fading role following the 
collapse of the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government.

The source said news about log seizures might stop illegal operations for a short while but it would 
soon resurface. 

Pushing minority refugees back to Burma had also been suggested as a way of tackling the problem.