Some 1.4 million seedlings have been planted to rehabilitate the degraded Maasai Mau Forest and water tower since November last year.
Kenya Forest Service chief conservator Julius Kamau said the trees are doing well and the survival rate is more than 90 per cent due to collatoboration among agencies.
“The place was secured to allow seedlings to grow. Spot weeding has been done,” Kamau said.
The Mau Forest complex was once Kenya's larget closed canopy forest. Degradation has been massive.
Encroachment on the forest was also massive.
Most rivers have run dry, affecting millions of people who rely on the water catchment area.
The forest secures regional ecological balance for the extensive Mara and Serengeti wildlife sanctuaries, crucial trans‐boundary heritage of both Kenya and Tanzania.
Kamau said tree planting was still underway with rain and favourable weather.
The government intends to increase the country's forest cover from the current 7.2 per cent to 10 per cent by 2022.
The 114,000-acre forest is one of the forest blocs of the Mau Forest Complex and is trust land under the Trust Land Act.
The government undertook Phase I of operation to recover the Maasai Mau Forest in July and August 2018. More than 11,000 acres were recovered in the Nkoben and Kosia areas.
A total of 11,119.725 acres of forest land were recovered in Nkoben and Kosia areas.
Phase II targeted Sierra Leone and surrounding areas, popularly known as the ‘status quo area’, about 42,000 acres.
The 60-day window for people to voluntarily move out expired, squatters were forcibly removed despite protests from political leaders.
The Kenya Water Towers Agency is tendering for contractors to put up an electric fence. It will extend about 120 kilometres from Sierra Leone to Olkurto.
The area to be saved is home to elephants, leopards and giant forest hogs.
"These areas were completely degraded and cannot be restored by natural regeneration, hence, the need to fence off to facilitate tree planting," a National Environment Management Authority report in the Star's possession says.
According to the Nema report, the fence will have five to 10 wires between heavy timber poles to restrain big game, antelope and carnivores.
The Water Towers Agency said the project will have minimal impact on air quality, noise and vibration, solid waste, surface water, waste and effluent.
There will be minimal clearance of trees and felling big trees will be avoided as much as possible. The trees on the 'red list' of threatened species will not be touched.
(Edited by V. Graham)
