Binsuluk Forest Reserve, also Binsulok Forest Reserve, is a protected forest reserve on the

Klias Peninsula The Klias Peninsula () is a peninsula in western of Sabah, Malaysia. It consists of coastal wetlands which become the largest mangrove and nipa swamp area in Sabah's west coast and serves as a major nurturing ground for fisheries resources in ...

, in

Beaufort District The Beaufort District ( ; ) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Interior Division which includes the districts of Beaufort, Keningau, Kuala Penyu, Nabawan, Sipitang, Tambunan and Tenom. The population of B ...

Interior Division The Interior Division () is an administrative division of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the southwest portion of Sabah, bordered by the neighbouring state of Sarawak on its west. With an area of 18,298 square kilometres, it covers 24 ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

, Malaysia. It was designated as a Class 1 Protection Forest by the Sabah Forestry Department in 1992. Its area is . The reserve is mostly flat, consisting mostly of

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of th ...

, with a small area of mangroves. The peat forests within this reserve, along with those in the nearby Klias Forest Reserve, are the last peat forests in Sabah. Being mostly peat forest, the reserve faces high fire risks. Large fires occurred in 1997–98, burning most of the park. In 2016 large fires in peat bogs, which were caused by fires spread to Binsuluk and other forest reserves from nearby open burning, contributed to the 2016 Malaysian haze. Over half of the reserve were burnt during this event. Open burning caused yet another forest fire in 2020, this time burning .

Flora

Binsuluk and Klias Forest Reserves have a combined species richness of at least identified 134 tree species. Four species of ''

Nepenthes ''Nepenthes'' ( ) is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are m ...

'' pitcher plants have been recorded. Some tree species are '' Dryobalanops rappa'', '' Shorea platycarpa'', ''

Dactylocladus stenostachys ''Dactylocladus'' is a monotypic genus of trees in the family Crypteroniaceae. It contains the single species ''Dactylocladus stenostachys''. The generic name means "finger twigs", referring to the branching of the twigs. The specific epithet ' ...

'' and ''

Gonystylus bancanus ''Gonystylus bancanus'' is a species of tree in the family Thymelaeaceae, growing to over tall. Distribution and habitat ''Gonystylus bancanus'' is native to Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Its habitat is in lowland swamp f ...

''. However the status of these species is uncertain given the fires and logging activities. An

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

assessment in 2019 did not include Binsuluk as part of the species habitat for ''Dryobalanops rappa''.

Fauna

Binsuluk Forest Reserve is home to mammals including wild boar,

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe huntin ...

and

macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe (in Gibraltar). Macaques are principally f ...

monkeys. There are five amphibians found between the two forest reserves, '' Hoplobathracus rogulosa'', '' Rana erythraea'', '' Rana glandulosa'', '' Polypedates coletti'', and ''

Polypedates leucomystax ''Polypedates'' is a genus of frogs in the family (biology), family Rhacophoridae, the shrub frogs and Paleotropic tree frogs. They belong to subfamily Rhacophorinae. Members of this genus are collectively known as whipping frogs. They occur in ...

''.

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

s are present on the peninsula. 66 butterfly species have been discovered within the peat forests.

References

External links

Binsuluk – Protected Planet
{{Protected areas of Sabah Forest reserves of Sabah Borneo lowland rain forests Sunda Shelf mangroves