Suhuma Forest Reserve
The Suhuma Forest Reserve (latitudes 5°56ʹ and 6°11ʹN; longitudes 2°21ʹ
and 2°36ʹW) is also a production forest of about 36,030 ha located in
the Sefwi Wiawso Forest District (Hawthorne & Abu-Juan, 1995). There
are 24 admitted farms in the reserve each averaging 11.5 ha (total 276
ha) and one admitted community covering an area of 389 ha (Forest
Services Division, 2010b). The reserve is exposed to active logging. Its
canopy is discontinuous due to excessive logging activity but still has
emergent trees that may reach heights of about 40 m. Most of the trees
that occur in the reserve are deciduous: (Forest Services Division,
2010b). The forest lies within the moist semi-deciduous forest zone in
Ghana, and thus its vegetation is dominated by tree species such asC . mildbraeddii , Baphia nitida , Nesogordonia
papaverifera , Microdesmis puberula , Khaya ivoriensis ,Daniella ogea , and Dacryodes klaineana (Hall & Swaine,
1981). The forest reserve experiences two distinct seasons: the dry
season and the rainy season. The dry season is from December to March
whereas April to October marks the rainy season. Average annual rainfall
is between 1300 and 1600 mm. Mean annual temperature ranges between 26
and 29oC, and relative humidity is usually above 90 %
in the rainy season and falls to 60% during the dry season (Forest
Services Division, 2010b).