The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I spent this morning at one of the dam construction sites as one of the standby medics.  I was the only one who got hurt this morning though.  I was climbing down the face of one of the dams when I used a piece of wood that hadn't been nailed in as an anchor (always test your anchors!).  I came tumbling down into the water, along with my camera. My camera appears like it will recover.  And I escaped with only a small scrape.

I departed the work site with about 15 hugs (turns out Indonesians are huggers - either that or they assumed that Americans are) - I even got a hug from our stoic Finnish action coordinator, Petteri.

I'm really going to miss many people here.  I've made a lot of new friendships with people from all over the world.  And it's been an awesome experience to be a part of this camp, where people converge from all over the world for the same purpose:  to save the remaining peatland forest (and all the stored carbon it contains.)

Right now Rob is stapling up all the articles that we're featured in. There are stories in many different languages from newspapers all over the world.  There's actually not enough room on the wall for all of them.  To see the articles is a great reminder that what we're doing here is making a difference.

Although I'm leaving, the the work of the camp is continuing.  Many more journalists are arriving next week, and interest is continuing to pick up.  It's almost a good thing that the dam construction is taking so long, as it gives more opportunities for the press to witness what is happening here.

I want to thank Rici, Rob, Geoff, Coang, John, Yudi, Hapsoro, David, Frode, JJ, Cedar, Yifang, Titis, Ranga, Oka, Imam, the U.S. Consulate in Medan, and everyone else who has helped make the camp work  (and that's a lot of people, at least 200 others, not including all of our generous donors).

As I was leaving the dam site today, someone yelled "don't forget us!" - I'm sure that I will never forget this experience.

Hayden 

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Constructing the dams in the peatland canals over the last few days has been extremely challenging.  Getting materials ontime, extremely hot weather, and today we had probably our most interesting challenge.

We showed up to the building site of dam number three only to find a pompong (boat) stuck behind our half constructed dam.  In it was a mother and father with five children, and all of their possessions.  It turns out that they had just been evicted by Duta Palma from their house they were building.  The company told them they were squatting illegally and had to leave.  So they left the way they got there, using one of the canals at high tide.  Except this time their way was blocked.

We worked all morning as the tide rose with the family hanging out in their boat right behind the dam.  They even had a rooster they had tied to a tree nearby.

Finally at high tide we had to deal with moving a huge boat with a diesel engine over our dam.  None of us were looking forward to it, and many of us thought it might be impossible with the tools and people power we had available to us.

We used wooden poles as a ramp up over the dam, and used two lengths of rope wrapped under the boat to help lift and push it, inch by inch, over the dam.  Fortunately it worked.

Afterward I asked Petteri, the Finnish action coordinator who is helping coordinate the dam building, if he was taught how to deal with that situation in action planning school.  He replied with his usual finnish chuckle.

We now have two dams completed, and another one about halfway done.  But today is my last day.  I'm off tomorrow, as I've been here nearly a month.  In fact, I have the current record for the person who has been here at camp the longest.  People say they can notice, as apparently I appear very comfortable here.  In fact, I sleep very well every night now.  And I've acclimated to the heat - I watch the new arrivals drip with sweat after being in the sun for only 2 minutes.  I also get some enjoyment in watching them squirm every evening as the bugs swarm around them.  Maybe it is time for me to leave...

 - Hayden

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I wanted to write a quick web log entry about our major means of transportation here in this corner of Sumatra: the pompong

The pompong is THE means of transport on the rivers here.  In fact, it's the only type of boat that I've seen on the Cinaku and Indragiri rivers.

The pompong is a custom made boat that is long and narrow, and comes in a variety of sizes.  What they all have in common is an old school inboard diesel engine that can be heard from over a mile away.  The engines have no electrics.  It is started with a crank, just like the old cars.  And being a diesel there are no spark plugs involved. The engine is then connected to a shaft that runs through the hull at a very shallow angle and sits just behind the middle of the boat.  This protects the prop from river debris, which is important since the rivers here are almost swamps.   It also allows the boat to go in very shallow waters, which is important for the work of the pompong.  They use these boats for transport, fishing, and shipping.

The steering system is very basic, like everything on the boat.  It uses two ropes that wrap around the steering column that then run back to the rudder.  While the potential for steering failure is high, any problems can be fixed while on the water.  I've been witness to this, as we lost steering through a narrow canal, but they merely retied the ropes and we were off again.

On Cedar and JJ's trip back to Rengat yesterday they actually lost the rudder.  Luckily they were close to the village of Kuala Cinaku.  The driver of the boat disembarked and disappeared in the bushes and reappeared about 30 minutes later with a new rudder.  Having a standardized vessel for the entire region makes finding spare parts easier.

The name of the boat is derived from the sound that they make: pompongpompongpompong...

They are so loud it sounds like a helicopter approaching, and I'm sure some of the pompong drivers have long term hearing loss, as the sound can be deafening.

And the last feature of the ponpong is that anything goes; anything can be towed, no lifejackets required, smoking is allowed, even if you're sitting on the gas tank, and the capacity of the boat is as many people as can fit. This morning, on our way to the damming site, we fit about 15 people on the boat, and then towed two canoes full of people. We managed to get a crew of about 30 to the work site in one trip.

The pompong is what keeps things moving (incluging Greenpeace) here in Riau.

- Hayden 

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

I haven't written a web log entry for a few days. I've been busy building dams for Greenpeace.  I never thought I'd type that line.  Usually we're opposing dams, not building them.

Building dams is apparently extremely laborious and time consuming work. Fortunately we've had an infusion of community members from the local village helping us out.  They really know how to work and have shown up most of the city folk here.  They also are extremely entertained by seeing a "bule" put in some hard labor.  They've taken to calling me by the name of some soccer player who plays for AC Milan who they think I look like.  Probably some white dude with a beard.  They also call me "Mister Sport", which I'm not sure is a compliment or an insult.

So yesterday we finished two dams, and it was incredibly satisfying to see the water level rise behind the dam.  Rob said it one of the coolest and most effective actions he's ever been a witness to.  We have three more dams to go, however.

The idea of building these dams is to help raise the level of water in the peatland area to its previous height, thereby restoring the area to it's natural state.  This would take quite some time, as the forest has been cleared and burned.  But damming the canals is the first step towards restoration.  The oil palms, already planted in the area certainly aren't going to like the rising water levels.  But that doesn't really concern us, especially as seeing as this palm concession is illegal under international law.  The law states that any peatlands over 3 meters in depth may not be deforested and converted.  The peatland area where this concession exists has peatland depths of over 8 meters (26 feet).  8 meters was the maximum depth that could be measured with the tools that were used by the surveying crew of scientists who helped us measure the peatland depth.  In many areas the peatland depth exceeds 8 meters.

So far we haven't had any reaction from the company that owns and operates the concession, Duta Palma.  Some of the workers have come by to check out our work, but none have done anything to stop us - yet. There could me many reasons for this, such as the probability that they know that their operation is illegal.  Another possible reason is that they know how much support we have among the community, and even among the local officials, which brings me to another story.

We had yet another visit from government officials.  This time we were told to expect about 6 people, and of course about 15 arrived.  They were mostly officials from the Indonesian equivalent of the county level.  Also with them were some people from military intelligence.  The government officials were extremely friendly. They even visited one of the damming sites and expressed their support.  The military intelligence officials, dressed in all black with sunglasses, weren't quite as vocal in their support.  But I assume that's just their MO. It was great though to see the support we are getting from official government in Indonesia.  This can sometimes be a risky place to make bold statements, and how Indonesian officials will react cannot always be predicted.  Right now it seems that we are safe from goverment intervention.

After our last visit from the police and police intelligence I contacted the U.S. embassy,mostly because the visiting officials asked me if I had registered with the embassy.  I have to say that I have had excellent support, especially from the consulate in Medan on Sumatra. They have kept in contact, and even read my web log.  Illegal logging is an issue that is very important to them.

I only have a few more days left in camp.  It has been nearly a month. I acclimated to the heat here, I sleep well every night, I haven't had a beer in a month, and I wake up at 5:30 almost every morning, and people make fun of me for my American accent.  I have a feeling that some changes will be coming soon.

I'll send out more updates on our progress, and any reaction from Duta Palma, if they react at all.

Also, I'm told that my web log is being translated to mandarin and is published on the largest web site in China.  So that's kind of cool.

Hayden

The following posting is from Hayden who is at our Forest Defenders Camp. Learn more about the camp and threats to Indonesian forests.

Today we began the process of damming the canals that drain are draining the peatland forests of the bordering palm oil concession.  We began work with about 40 people at 6am this morning, mostly volunteers from the local communities.

The first job was to finish moving all the damming materials over half a mile up one of the canals.This is a huge task that requires hours of work, as we're talking about tons of material for each dam. We use canoes to carry the sandbags, and we float the wood poles in the canals and someone has to wade through the coffee tinted water pushing them up the canal against the current.

We are planning on building a total of 5 canals in the coming week. Assisting us are experts in canal dam building and peatland restoration from Indonesia.

In addition to the challenge of moving many tons of material over many miles, we also have the additional challenge of having to time our work with the tides.  We use high tide to move the materials up the canals, and then we use the lower tides to begin the building process of the dams.

I was fortunate enough to not have to work most of the morning, as I was supporting our para-motor pilots.  I have to stay on standby with first-aid supplies in case of any incidents.

When I finally got to one of the dam building sites most people were already exhausted.  They had been working at the site since 7am with only a break for lunch.  I helped carry wooden cants to the dam building site.  After about an hour of that I went to work with an axe sharpening the ends of the cants so they could be pounded into the ground for dam supports.  Cedar and I worked on that as many people watched, and apparently were very entertained by the site of two white guys working with axes.  We chopped on amid the laughter, and made our own jokes about the irony of working on a Greenpeace action that involves chopping wood.  Usually we're on the other side of that.

More damn building tomorrow.  I have to make this short as bugs are attacking me and the computer I'm writing on.  Ah, one just flew into my eye.

 Hayden