Kenya forest service has clarified and given finer details on Kinale Forest.
"Kinale Forest Station in Kiambu County covers a total of 10,504.87 hectares and it is located along the Nairobi Naivasha highway. The forest comprises of 4,914.32 hectares of indigenous forests and 1,634.8 hectares of Plantation forests. There is also bushland, bamboo area, and grassland which cover 3,955.75 hectares.
During the current ongoing rainfall season, the forest station is planting trees on 97.4 hectares using the PELIS system in collaboration with the Community Forest Association (CFA). This will ensure the planting backlog of all the plantation areas is restocked. Currently, land preparation and staking by CFA members are ongoing and tree planting will commence the week starting May 4th.
Therefore, the Service wishes to refute claims on social media that a portion of Kinale Forest has been deforested or settled as observed from an aerial photo circulating online, the same photo that was in circulation in 2018.
The Service wishes to state that the undated old photo, depicts a portion of Kinale Forest along the Nairobi -Naivasha highway, whereby the left side (outward bound) is a human settlement – this is not part of the gazetted forest area.
The right side of the plantation depicts the area which is currently being restocked through the PELIS system as has been mentioned above. It’s worth noting that the bare strip next to the highway is part of the wayleave/ road reserve that was harvested in 2018.
As part of its reform agenda, Kenya Forest Service has embarked on a countrywide restocking of all plantation areas which had been harvested earlier on, and the restoration of natural forests in line with the Service FY 2019/20 planting programme. Therefore, there is no case of forest destruction or mismanagement in Kinale Forest."
