 Located within Sumatra and Indonesia, the Leuser Ecosystem hosts an incredible array of endangered species including the orangutan and Asian elephant. This 26,000 square kilometer area, approximately the size of Maryland, is also home to 4,000,000 people competing for the land and its resources. Through a generous grant for enforcement activities from the Denver Zoological Foundation, the Leuser International Foundation has been able to increase patrolling through critical portions of the Ecosystem. Patrols monitor activities within protected areas by boat, elephant, motorcycle, plane, and on foot.
This enforcement is crucial to be able to monitor and stop illegal logging and land clearing, to end wildlife poaching, and to ensure that the ecosystem’s ecological resources remain intact for future generations.
The patrolling has proven to be extremely effective. Logging within the patrol area has been drastically reduced and no further encroachment has occurred within the patrol range. Without patrolling activities, much of the area would have been deforested and converted to other land uses.
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