Assessment of Timber Harvest in Ondo State, Nigeria between 2013 and 2019

The high rate of timber harvest from the forest without any replacement is hostile to the achievement of the objectives of sustainable forest management in Nigeria. The study was carried out to investigate the rate of timber harvest in Ondo state, Nigeria. Secondary data on logging activities from both forest reserves and free areas between 2013 and 2019 in the three forestry administrative zones - Akure, Ore, and Okitipupa were collected from the Ondo state department of forestry official records, files and annual reports. Analyses were carried out using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test for significant difference in the number of stems and volumes extracted between 2013 and 2019 in the study area. Results revealed that 49,063 and 8409 stems were harvested from free areas and reserves respectively within this period. It was showed that 118323.0m3 and 19022.1m3 stem volume were also removed from free areas and forest reserves respectively. Generally, there was significant difference (p<0.05) in the number of stems and volumes removed from free areas and forest reserves within these years. The study concluded that unregulated timber harvest is a threat to biodiversity conservation and recommended that conservative measures should be put in place to protect forest areas from deforestation and that more protected area should be established.