Pulau Kimaam
Location:
7°43'-8°28'S, 137°33'-l38' 53'E; 170 km west of Merauke, Southern Division, Kabupaten Merauke, Irian Jaya.
Area:
Game Reserve 600,000 ha.
Altitude:
Sea level to 90m.
Biogeographical Province:
5.1.13.
Wetland type:
02, 03, 06, 07, 14, 18 & 21.
Description of site:
Pulau Kimaam (also known as Pulau Dolok, Pulau Kolepom and Frederik Hendrik Island), is a swampy island of about one million ha, separated from the mainland by a narrow channel. Most of the southern two-thirds of the island is wetland, and contains 99,000 ha of mangrove forest, 42,000 ha of freshwater swamps and 42,000 ha of peat swamp. The swamps include both forested swamps and open grassy swamps.
Climatic conditions:
Humid tropical climate.
Principal vegetation:
Eight principal types of vegetation have been defined (Bishop, 1984):
(a) mangrove forest with species of Avicennia, Sonneratia, Rhizophora;
(b) Melaleuca swamp forest dominated by M. leucodendron and M. cajuputi;
(c) mixed swamp forest with species of Ficus, Syzygium, Tenminalia, Melaleuca, Acacia, Erythronia, Calophyllum, Barningtonia, Inocanpus, Campnosperma, Dnacontomelon, Mangifena and Planchonia;
(d) clumps of bamboo;
(e) seasonal swampy grasslands with Phragmites karka;
(f) Melaleuca savanna;
(g) mixed monsoon savannah;
(h) aquatic vegetation such as Nymphaea sp in swamps with permanent open water.
Land tenure:
Partly state owned and partly owned by the local people. The ownership of land is complicated because villages which have moved to new locations have retained their old land. In some cases, the old land is now a considerable distance from the new settlements.
Conservation measures taken:
The southern part of the island (600,000 ha) was designated as a Game Reserve (Suaka Margasatwa) in 1978.
Conservation measures proposed:
The island has been proposed as a Nature Reserve (Cagar Alam), but this would mean that the villages in the reserve would have to be resettled. The proposal has met with considerable local opposition. It has been suggested that if the villages are allowed to remain, the inhabitants could act as wardens and might be more effective than reserve wardens brought in from outside.
Land use:
There are still a few villages in the southern part of the reserve. The local people have adapted to their swamp environment by constructing their houses and gardens on artificial islands (Serpenti, 1977).
Possible Changes in Land use:
No Information.
Disturbances and threats:
Excessive hunting of crocodiles, hunting of deer and birds, burning of grass in the dry season, and cutting of mangrove trees. There is some disturbance from the settlements in or close to the reserve.
Economic and social values:
The local people are dependent on the swamps for their livelihood, and their peculiar culture is of considerable anthropological interest.
Fauna:
An extremely rich area for wildlife. It is the best site in Irian Jaya for the conservation of crocodiles, and one of the richest for waterbirds, with important breeding, roosting and feeding areas.
Over 200 species of birds have been recorded, including about 90 species of waterbirds, many of which are rare elsewhere in Indonesia. Herons, egrets, storks and ibises are particularly abundant. A recent count included:
over 1,000 Egretta picata 400 E. garzetta
1,000 E. intemmedia 200 E. alba
15,000 Threskionnis molucca 2,500 Plegadis falcinellus
300 Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus
along with smaller numbers of Ixobrychus minutus, I. sinensis, Zonerodius heliosylu.c Nycticorax caledonicus, Butorides stnialus, Egretta sacra, Ardea novaehollandiae, A. sumatrana, Carphibis spinicollis and Platalea regia. Other resident waterfowl include Tachybaptu.s novaehollandiae, Pelecanus conspicillatus, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos, P. sulcirostnis, Anhinga novaehollandiae, Anseranas semipalmata (up to 10,000), Dendrocygna guttata, D. arcuata, Tadonna radjah, Nettapus puichellus, Anas superciliosa, A. gibbenifrons, Grus rubicunda, Rallus philippensis, Rallina tricolor, trediparra gallinacea, Himantopus leucocephalus, Esacu.s rnagnirostnis and Vanellus miles.
The island is very important as a staging area and wintering area for migratory shorebirds. Twenty-one species of migrant shorebirds from the Palearctic Region have been recorded, along with two species from Australia (Haematopus longirostris and Stiltia isabella). A recent count included:
86 Pluvialis squatarola 3,700 Charadrius mongolus
60 Limosa limosa 70 L. lapponica
1,175 Numenius phaeopus 130 N. madagascariensis
90 lenus cinereus 90 Calidnis tenuirostnis
1,400 C. nuficollis
Terns include Chlidonias hybrida, Gelochelidon nilotica, Sterna dougallii, S. sumatrana, S. albifrons, S. bergii, S. bengalensis, Anous stolidus and A. minutus.
Other wetland birds include the raptors Pandion haliaetus, Haliastur sphenurus, H. indus and Haliaeelus leucogaster, and the kingfishers Alcedo azurea, A. pusilla, Ceyx lepidus, Dacelo gaudichaud, D. leachii, Melidora macrorrhina, Halcyon nigrocyanea, H. mackleyi, H. toroloro H. sancta and H. chloris.
Mammals include the Timor Deer, Wild Boar, Beaver Rat, Spotted Phalanger, Common Forest Wallaby, Agile Wallaby and Echidna (Cervus timonensis, Sus scrofa, Hydromus chry.sogaster, Phalanger macullatus. Dorcopsis veterum, Macropus agilis and Tachyglossus aculeatus).
The wetlands support a large, healthy population of the Estuarine Crocodile Crocodylus porosus, and the New Guinea Crocodile C. novaeguineae also occurs.
Special floral values:
No information.
Research and facilities:
Several faunal and floral surveys have been carried out. Bishop (1984) conducted a survey in September-December 1984 with emphasis on determining appropriate boundaries for the reserve, and S. and A. Nash have made a survey of the Estuarine Crocodile population on the island.
References:
Bishop (1984); IUCN (in prep); Karpowicz (1985); MacKinnon & Artha (1981b); Petocz (1984); Schultze-Westrum (1978); Serpenti (1977); Whitaker cC al. (1985).
Criteria for Inclusion:
123.
Source:
Marcel J. Silvius and K. David Bishop.