Gunung Walat University Forest as a man-made forest has been established since 1951 and since
1968 has been managed for educational purposes. In its establishment, surrounding communities
were involved in the planting activities and got allocated plots for cultivating food crops by tumpang
sari (taungya) system. As the trees grow to form closed-crown cover, food crops could not be
cultivated anymore. The forest in GWUF has been protected from illegal cutting and encroachment,
though sometimes these disturbances occurred in the past. At the end of New Order Era (1998),
GWUF was also suffering by the impact of economic crisis. Some people from surrounding villages
encroached the southern part of GWUF, cut the trees, and made the area as their cultivation land.
GWUF management reacted by establishing memorandum of understanding (MoU) to reforest the
encroached area by tumpang sari system. The MoU was implemented for 10 years and ended in
2012. Food crops that were introduced to GWUF by tumpang sari system were then left un-managed.
Meanwhile, the forest grew to a complex habitat for plants and wildlife. Other than the main trees
planted (puspa, agathis, and pine) and unmanaged food crops, other plants also grew in the forest, so
that surrounding communities could collect food and feed from GWUF. From twenty respondents
interviewed, nine respondents have been collecting food from the forest, four respondents have been
collecting grasses, shrubs, and herbs for livestock feed, and four respondents collected both food and
feed