due to high operating costs, and the concession became inactive. Te Ministry of Forestry renewed the company’s licence in 2004, and the company recently submitted a plan to recommence log- ging in the southern part of the concession (Map 13).
Te concession encompasses much of the upper watershed of the Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Air (PLTA) Sipansihaporas hydro-elec- tric facility near Sibolga. In recognition of the critical role played by
the water catchments emanating from the Batang Toru forests for agriculture and the private sector in the area, the North Su- matra provincial government has already made a request to the central government to change the status of the land, including the logging concession, to protected forest. Tis request is fully supported by each of the three district governments that cover the Batang Toru region, and the change is already reflected in the most recent spatial plan for the province.