Klias Forest Reserve

Klias Forest Reserve
IUCN category Ia (strict nature reserve)
Klias Forest Reserve Location in Borneo
Location	Sabah, Malaysia
Nearest city	Beaufort, Beaufort District
Coordinates	5°17′37″N 115°37′50″E
Area	36.3 km^2 (14.0 sq mi)
Established	1984
Governing body	Sabah Forestry Department[1]

Klias Forest Reserve is a protected forest reserve on the Klias Peninsula, in Beaufort District of Interior Division, Sabah, Malaysia.^[2] It was designated as a Class 1 Protection Forest by the Sabah Forestry Department in 1984. Its area is 3,630 hectares (36.3 km²).^[3] The reserve is mostly flat, consisting mainly of peat swamp forest, with a small area of mangroves.^[1] The peat forests within this reserve, along with those in the nearby Binsuluk Forest Reserve, are the last peat forests in Sabah.^[4]

Being mostly peat forest, the reserve faces high fire risks. Large fires occurred in 1997–98, burning about 10% of the Klias Reserve.^[5] In 2016 large fires in peat bogs, which spread to Klias and other forest reserves from nearby open burning, contributed to the 2016 Malaysian haze.^[6]

Flora

Klias and Binsuluk Forest Reserves are within the Klias Peninsula Important Bird Area (IBA). The IBA has a combined species richness of at least 134 identified tree species. Four species of Nepenthes pitcher plants have been recorded in the IBA.^[7] Resident tree species include Dryobalanops rappa, Madhuca motleyana, Shorea platycarpa, Dactylocladus stenostachys and Gonystylus bancanus.^[5]

Fauna

Klias Forest Reserve is home to threatened mammals including banded palm civet, pig-tailed macaque, proboscis monkey, sambar deer, Bornean bearded pig, mousedeer and the critically endangered Sunda pangolin.^[5] Bird life in the reserve includes the hook-billed bulbul, whose Sabah range is confined to the Klias Peninsula, and the rare species grey-breasted babbler and scarlet-breasted flowerpecker.^[8] Five amphibians inhabit the IBA: Hoplobathracus rogulosa, Rana erythraea, Rana glandulosa, Polypedates coletti and Polypedates leucomystax. 66 butterfly species have been discovered within the peat forests.^[7]

References

1. "Klias". Sabah Forestry Department. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
2. Sheldon, Frederick H (October 2015). "Gazetteer and site-based history of the ornithology of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo". Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University. 1 (86): 7. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
3. "FORESTS (CONSTITUTION OF FOREST RESERVES AND AMENDMENT) ENACTMENT 1984 (No. 4 of 1984)" (PDF). State of Sabah. July 2020. p. 5. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
4. "Forest fire ravages most of Binsuluk reserve". The Star. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
5. Henry Bernard; Nellcy Joseph; Esther Lonnie Baking; Tung Siaw Ean; Yasuyuki Tachiki; Felicity Oram; Jaya Seelan Sathiya Seelan; Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan (21 November 2019). "Animal use of rehabilitated formerly fire damaged peat-swamp forest in western Sabah, Malaysia". The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 67: 660–661. doi:10.26107/RBZ-2019-0047.
6. Tang Ruxyn (5 April 2016). "Who And What Is Causing This Terrible Haze In Sabah?". Says. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
7. "Klias peninsula". BirdLife International. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
8. Sheldon, Frederick H; Davison, Geoffrey; Wong, Anna; Moyle, Robert G (3 April 2014). "Birds in peatswamp at Klias Forest Reserve and environs, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo" (PDF). Louisiana State University. Retrieved 13 April 2021.