Lwamunda is officially designated as a government forest reserve. It is 1000 hectares large, and about 400 years old. Tree dominants here include Celtis durandii, Celtis mildebraedii, and Macaranga monandra. Tree density is about 404 stems per hectare, with a mean dbh of 22.61 cm and height of 14.06 m. A total of 101 tree species were found within the sampling area. There does not appear to be a regeneration problem, and the main tree dominants appear to be well represented within the sapling population.
Approximately 75 people live less than 5Km from this forest. Individuals or groups are permitted to extract non-reserved tree species or other products in reasonable amounts such as firewood, medicinal plants, craft material, and poles. On average most users live within 1-5 kilometers of the forest and harvest such products as trees, water and wildlife. The forest is particularly important for firewood, charcoal and timber.
It supplies approximately 90% of timber needs and 90% of fuelwood needs. Tree densities and forest area are decreasing due to timber cutting, charcoal making, and firewood collection. Most users rank the forest’s condition as low and are concerned that poor rule enforcement and high harvesting rates will compromise the capacity of the forest to meet future needs. High demands for forest products, lack of affordable substitutes and limited capacity of the forest department to regulate harvesting are seen as critical problems likely to hasten the decline in forest quality and extent. It is thought that future opportunities lie in improving monitoring and control of harvesting. Also as trees get depleted on government land great opportunity exists for private forests to meet the population’s demand for wood products.