Jajarkot, January 13  

Rampant extraction of resin from pine trees is leading to the dwindling of pine forests in Jajarkot.

The contractors, in nexus with local consumers and forest employees, have been extracting sap from pine trees in a haphazard manner, which has caused the pine trees to dry.

Jajarkot District Forest Office had assigned the contract for resin collection to Mankamana Turpentine, Swostik Resin and Turpentine and Bangalamukhi Resin and Turpentine from as many as 50 community forests across the district.

Pine forests are in peril due to resin collectors’ failure to abide by the set standards.

Former Chairman Krishna Bahadur Thapa of Malli Community Forest Consumers’ Committee at Dhime VDC said they had banned collectors from carving pine trees and using prohibited chemicals.

Collectors had agreed to collect resin by leaving five mother trees per hectare and to extract the sap from a single place in a tree.

However, they have been extracting resin from more than one place in a tree. Locals said resin collectors also used the banned chemicals to extract more resin. Resin collection is under way in Sima, Dhime, Jungathapachaur, Salma, Lahn, Dashera, Karkigaun, Jhapra, Pajaru, Thalaraikar, Bhur, Punma, and Sakla VDCs’ community forests.

Bhim Bahadur Shahi, Chairman of Gangatiya Community Forest Consumers’ Committee at Punma VDC-6 accused the concerned authority of doing nothing to protect pine trees.