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Published on January 27, 2008

Anti-dam activist Prasitthiphorn Kal-onsri said if the 284,000-rai forest reserve were destroyed, it would make it easier to revive plans for the dam. There are about 24,000 rai of teak stands in the reserve. He said the Irrigation Department, buoyed by a study it paid for describing the teak as "deteriorated forest", was "ceaselessly pushing" for the dam.

Prasitthiphorn said the report's description of the teak stands was wrong, probably because they were inspected during a summer "wither-and-bud period".

Villagers in tambon Sa-iab later hired Chulalongkorn University to conduct another study a few years later, and over a longer duration.

That showed the stand as very fertile and the "largest and most complete natural teak forest in Thailand". No other teak forest measures more than 3,000 rai.

Prasitthiphorn said the Kaeng Sue Ten dam would flood vast areas of the Mae Yom forest reserve and all of the teak area, which he said was invaluable in monetary and environmental terms.

The 296 felled trees are valued at Bt3.8 million, and the 19 abandoned logs at Bt49,000, the Forestry Industry Organisation said.

The actual value is much higher when their end-product worth is calculated.

Prasitthiphorn's conspiracy theory was sparked by the discovery that some of the tress had been killed using chemicals. Police have arrested four men for the poisoning.

Prasitthiphorn said a volunteer scout group found 768 trees had been poisoned. Forest rangers had identified 296 only.

Mae Yom forest reserve chief Mongkhol Saengrung-arun has been transferred for failing to prevent the attacks. Suwit Yakit, a senior forestry official, was transferred to an inactive post for his suspected involvement in the attacks.

Seng Khwanyuen, the head of Don Sak Thong village, accused forestry officials of direct involvement with the poisoning. He dismissed an Irrigation Department statement that the dam would prevent drought and provide water to more than 100,000 rai of farmland.

He said the department overstated the good the dam would do, citing a Food and Agriculture Organisation study that said it would cause major environmental loss and result in the relocation of more than 1,000 families. Flood prevention would be minimal.

Prajakphong Thaiklang, chief of the area forest office, said Suwit had been prohibited from entering the forest until the probe into his suspected involvement in the poisoning was completed. He did not say if Mongkhol had been linked with the attacks.

All 70 officials in the Mae Yom reserve will be questioned.

Ekkaphong Praditphong

The Nation