Transportation to Colombo is better on the coast with direct train
connection and flat roads, but most of the villages in the
buffer zones are rather isolated. Land holdings are small
(mostly smaller than 0.5 ha in Matara district (IPID, 1996)),
with a high component of slope land in the buffer zones.
Traditionally, forests have been utilized by local villagers for
grazing live stock, collecting fuelwood, building materials
(timber, rattan, bamboo), sticks to support planting betels
and tea, medicinal plants, food (mushrooms, honey etc.),
mining clay for brick making, hunting wild animals (hares,
porcupines, mouse deer, samburs and wild boars) and shifting
(chena) cultivation. The economic value of forest for local villagers
is significant.