Communities living near the park are poor and suffer land shortages; nearly all land directly surrounding the park is cultivated (IUCN, 2005; van Heist, 1994). There are no remnant forests
within 20 km around the park and people are settled up to right next to the park boundary (Sassen et al., 2013). On the western and southern slopes trees are part of the agricultural system. They are found in combination with coffee and bananas, around homesteads and in valleys planted with Eucalyptus woodlots. In the north, where people are more recently settled, trees outside the park are scarce, particularly nearer to the park boundary. A few isolated former forest-canopy trees remain scattered amongst the fields (Sassen et al., 2013).