Savana In Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Returns To Green After The Fire

Savana or pharmacy in the Mount Bromo area in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS), East Java, is back to green after the fire due to the flare used for pre-wedding photos.

Head of the Public Relations Evaluation Data Team of the TNBTS Center, Hendra said that most areas affected by forest and land fires had begun to grow vegetation through the natural succession process.

"Most of them have been overgrown with dominant grass vegetation and ferns," said Hendra, quoted from Antara, Sunday, October 15.

He said that although the majority of areas affected by the fire had been overgrown with vegetation in the form of grass and ferns, there were still some points that had mixed vegetation that looked black from the remaining forest and land fires.

According to him, the steps to plant trees in the area will be carried out in the near future. The TNBTS Center is still preparing a number of equipment such as tree seedlings that become endemic vegetation in the area.

"Only at certain locations that have mixed vegetation such as cypress and acacia trees, there are still remnants of black wood used for fire, such as in the Bantengan Block. For replanting, it will be carried out in the near future," he said.

He added that after the reopening of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park area after the forest and land fires had occurred since September 19, 2023, tourist visits had begun to increase.

"Regarding visits to the Bromo area, many have started. Approximately 80-90 percent of the total quota (2,700 visitors) are set per day," he said.

The TNBTS Center noted that the value of losses due to forest and land fires (karhutla) triggered by the use of flares or flares reached Rp8.3 billion with a total affected area of 989 hectares. As a result of the fire, the area was closed on September 6-18, 2023.

The loss value includes land extinguishing costs of approximately IDR 216 million and losses due to habitat loss with an ecosystem recovery cost approach of IDR 3.26 billion and losses due to the loss of recreational services until September 14, 2023, IDR 4.87 billion.

For information, the national park area was closed on September 6-18, 2023 due to the forest and land fires. The blackout process itself was carried out on September 6-14, 2023, by deploying hundreds of joint personnel.

The Mount Bromo area is one of the leading tourist destinations in East Java. In 2022, it was recorded that 318,919 tourists were visited, divided into 310,418 domestic tourists and 8,501 foreign tourists.

Of the total number of tourist visits to Bromo throughout 2022, there was Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) reaching Rp11.65 billion, which increased when compared to the previous year which was Rp4.85 billion.