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TELEMU TOWN, Lofa County \u2013 Miners in Lofa County have intruded on the Salayea Authorized Community Forest, undermining locals\u2019 efforts to conserve the woodland. The miners entered the 8,270-hectare forest without the community’s consent, violating the Community Rights Law<\/a>, which created community forestry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are knocking down the trees,\u201d said Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the forest, established in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The DayLight obtained photographs taken by local forest guards showing mining equipment, barrels of fuel, felled trees and a polluted waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Townspeople said the miners had 13 dredges on a tributary of the St. Paul River, machines the government has banned. The DayLight could not independently verify that information regarding our reporters\u2019 safety on a long road amid bad weather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Salayea is one of a few conservation community forests in Liberia, the only one in Lofa County. The forest\u2019s leadership runs alternative livelihood programs to keep locals off murky, rocky woodland, with a high potential for gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to keep this area as a reserved forest for our children and future generations,\u201d said Nathaniel Forkpa, the secretary general of the community land leadership of Palama Clan, which hosts a portion of the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forkpah, secretary general of the Palama Clan\u2019s community land development and management committee. The clan hosts a portion of the forest. Forkpah and other townsmen had first spotted the miners in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, Lofa County lost 20,000 hectares<\/a> of forest, according to the Global Forest Watch, which tracks deforestation worldwide. It was the county with the third-most loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Administrative proceeding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Angered by the actions of the illicit mining activities, forest guards seized the miners\u2019 properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, Salayea filed a lawsuit against Ford Roy Tabolo, the mine owner. They sue him and two other men for mining without license, smuggling of minerals, criminal trespass and criminal facilitation, documents from the Salayea Magisterial Court show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tabolo and the men deny any wrongdoing. Tabolo argued that their activities were legal, producing a small-scale mining license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following a week of hearings, the court dismissed the case and removed a stay on the trio\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge Gabriel Ndupellar ruled that both parties had legal documents. Ndupellar said the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) needed to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe proceeding before this court is not ripe enough for judicial determination, except based on the outcome of an administrative proceeding,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reeling from the ruling, Salayea wrote the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) about the case. \u201cWe need your quick intervention,\u201d read the June 8 letter. The FDA did not immediately respond to the DayLight\u2019s queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case is the fourth concerning mining in a community forest in the last five years, per media reports. Previous cases involved Korninga B<\/a> and Bondi Mandingo<\/a> in Gbarpolu, and Blei and Sehyi-Ko-doo<\/a> in Nimba. Bea Mountain Mining Corporation and Solway Mining Inc. were penalized in the Korninga B and Nimba cases. The other Gbarpolu case implicates unlicensed miners and is still in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Mulbah said Salayea was consulting lawyers for further legal actions against Tabolo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water pollution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in Salayea, Tabolo and his team are digging in the forest. A DayLight review of the Ministry of Mines\u2019 records shows Tabolo has four small-scale mining licenses, all expired in August and have not been renewed. That includes the license he presented to the court, based on court filings. Tabolo did not return queries for comments on this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Locals said another group of miners uses dredges on the St. Paul River, polluting creeks, driving away wildlife, and destroying the forest. It was due to such harmful environmental impacts the Ministry of Mines imposed a moratorium on dredging in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fishes in the water are also being affected and our people are eating the fish because they don\u2019t know,\u201d said Tokpah Koiwu, a community leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Villagers now carry drinking water from towns to their farms due to the pollution, Koiwu added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DayLight did not see the dredges. However, reporters obtained photos of royal blue plastic barrels, used by miners to make the makeshift machines. Furthermore, the color of the water in the pictures was consistent with a dredging operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top: Local forest guards with carpet seized from artisanal miners in the Salayea Community Forest. File picture By Esau J. Farr TELEMU TOWN, Lofa County \u2013 Miners in Lofa County have intruded on the Salayea Authorized Community Forest, undermining locals\u2019 efforts to conserve the woodland. 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Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. 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