Loma Mountains National Park

West Africa > Sierra Leone > Loma Mountains National Park

Summary

• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Loma Mountains National Park.
• It has been estimated that 1,065 (CI: 572-1,986) individuals occur at the site.
• The chimpanzee population trend is unknown.
• This site has a total size of 332 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting and habitat encroachment due to farming.
• Sierra Leone’s Forestry Division is responsible for the management and protection of the site; more information on conservation activities is lacking.
• The status of the site was upgraded from non-hunting forest reserve to national park as part of a biodiversity offset for the Bumbuna hydroelectric dam.

Site characteristics

The site was first established as a non-hunting reserve in 1972, and upgraded to national park status in 2012 as part of an offset plan to compensate for the environmental impacts caused by the Bumbuna hydroelectric project (Brncic et al. 2010; Kormos et al. 2014). Loma Mountains National park is located in Sierra Leone’s Nothern Province (Forestry Division 2012). Mount Bintumani is located in the site, which, at 1,945 m, is the highest peak in West Africa, west of Mount Cameroon (Hanson-Alp et al. 2003). The high elevations in the area gave rise to three main plant communities: closed forests and savanna (from 4,60 to 915 m), sub-montane Shrubland and gallery forests (915 to 1,700 m), and montane grassland (above 1,700, Forestry Division 2012). In addition to the western chimpanzee, the site hosts other endangered and vulnerable species, including western red colobus (Piliocolobus badius), Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana), pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis), golden cat (Caracal aurata), and zebra duiker (Cephalophus zebra, Forestry Division 2012). The site is also an Important Bird Area (IBA) with at least 245 bird species (BirdLife International 2019).

Table 1: Basic site information for Loma Mountains National Park

Area	332 km²
Coordinates	9.20 N, -11.12 W
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane Forest, Subtropical/Tropical Dry Forest, Subtropical/Tropical Dry Shrubland, Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude Grassland

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

According to a nationwide survey in 2009, which included Loma Mountains, an estimated 1,065 chimpanzees inhabit the site (Brncic et al. 2010). Loma is estimated to harbor 20% of the country’s chimpanzee population. The highest chimpanzee densities were found at higher elevations, likely because they are not easily accessed by humans (Brncic et al. 2010). The chimpanzee population trend is unknown, but based on a viability analysis, the population was projected to decline over the next 200 years if current conditions remained the same (Carlsen et al. 2011).

Table 2: Great ape population estimates in Loma Mountains National Park

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% confidence interval)	Density estimate (per km²)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes verus	2008		5.75-7.41		15% of the total area of Loma Mountains National Park	Unknown	Kortenhoven 2008 as cited by Brncic et al. 2010
Pan troglodytes verus	2009	1065 (572-1986)	2.69 (1.44-5.01)	8.27	Loma Mountains National Park	Line transects (Distance)	Brncic et al. 2010	Survey effort: 59.8 km

Threats

During a chimpanzee survey in 2009, human activities were observed mostly in the lowland areas of the park, especially farming activities (Brncic et al. 2010). Similarly, hunting signs were less common at higher elevations, near Bintumani peak. Overall, hunting pressure is much lower in Loma Mountains National Park compared to Tingi Hills or WAPFR (Brncic et al. 2010). While local people considerably rely on bushmeat, most of it is obtained close to the fields, and larger animals account only for a smaller fraction of bushmeat consumed (Forestry Division 2012). However, the extent of commercial hunting in the area is unknown (Forestry Division 2012).

Table 3: Threats to great apes in Loma Mountains National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1 Housing & urban areas	Present		Villages and farmland where located within the site before new boundaries where agreed upon in 2012 (Forestry Division 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	15% of vegetation cleared	Vegetation cleared for agriculture (Brncic et al. 2010, Forestry Division 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
3. Energy production & mining		Absent
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Present		Hunting signs are present in the lowland areas of the park (Brncic et al. 2010)	Ongoing (2010)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	Present		The site is a source of medicinal plants, wild fruits, herbs, and building materials for local people (Forestry Division 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Low		Logging for subsistence (Forestry Division 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
6. Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	Present		Fires to clear vegetation within and around the park sometimes extend beyond the intended field (Forestry Division 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Absent
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

The Forestry Division of Sierra Leone is responsible for the management of protected areas (Forestry Division 2012). The World Bank provided initial funding for the setup of the national park, but the long-term, sustainable financing of the park has not been secured (Kormos et al. 2014; Forestry Division 2012). Conservation measures for the park have included the development of a management plan, demarcation of the park’s boundaries, and posting and training staff (Kormos et al. 2014).

Table 4: Conservation activities in Loma Mountains National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	As of 2012, two rangers were part of the park’s staff (Forestry Division 2012)	Since 2012
6. Human intrusions & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site is designated as national park since 2012 (Forestry Division 2012)	Since 2012
	11.6. Demarcate and enforce boundaries of protected areas	Resurveying and physically demarcating park boundary (Kormos et al. 2014)	Ongoing(2014)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Impediments

Table 5: Impediments reported for Loma Mountains National Park

Impediment	Source
Lack of financial means	Kormos et al. 2014

Research activities

No information on research activities has been documented.

Documented behaviours

Table 6: Great ape behaviors reported for Loma Mountains National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

BirdLife International. 2019. Important Bird Areas factsheet: Loma Mountains Non-hunting Forest Reserve. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/08/2019.
Brncic, T.M., Amarasekaran,B. & McKenna,A. 2010. Final Report of the Sierra Leone National Chimpanzee Census Project. Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Carlsen,F., Leus, K., Traylor-Holzer, K., McKenna, A.(Editors). 2012. Western Chimpanzee Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for Sierra Leone: Final Report. IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group – Europe (CBSG Europe), Copenhagen, Denmark.
Forestry Division. 2012. Loma Mountains National Park: Preliminary Management Plan 2013-2017. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Sierra Leone
Hanson-Alp, R., Bakarr, M.I., Lebbie, A., Bangura, K.I. 2003. West African Chimpanzees. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, Chapter 10: Sierra Leone. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK
Kormos R, Kormos CF, Humle T, Lanjouw A, Rainer H, et al. 2014. Great Apes and Biodiversity Offset Projects in Africa: The Case for National Offset Strategies. PLOS ONE 9(11): e111671. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111671

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki Team Date: 02/09/2019