FOREST RESOURCES UTILIZATION VALUE OF THECOMMUNITIES LIVING IN AND AROUND GUNUNG LUMUT PROTECTION FOREST, EAST KALIMANTAN

Forest of Gunung Lumut in Pasir Distict, East Kalimantan was appointed as a Protection Forest since 1983. The forest is surrounded by 15 villages and one settlement lies inside. Communities in those villages depend on the forest resources mainly for non timbr forest products(NTFPs). This study focused on the utilazation and conservation of the protection forest resources by the community living in and around the forest. The study was conducted in two settlements, which located in and outside(near) the protection forest area,namely Mului sub village and Rantau Layung village. The data collection was undertaken through general field observations, focused group discussions,and personal interviews. Mului people,who live inside the Gunung Lumuit Protection Forest(GLPF) area, had higher positive perception on forest and conservation(80.3%) as well as on legal status of GLPF (74.2%) than those in Rantau Layung people (76% and 53.3%, respectively), who live outside the protection area. Utilization value of the GLPF resources, mainly NTFPs, by the communities is significant, reaching seven to eight milions rupiah per household per year. Plant resources utilizes was two to three times higher than animal resources. However, most of the NTFPs gathered from forest area were sold as raw materials, and no post harvesting technology applied to gain an added value of the NTF products