Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Draw River Forest Reserve is located some 6 km from Banso, to the west of the Nkroful–Banso road. The terrain comprises ranges of hills which curve from north-west to south. The Draw river traverses the eastern portion of the reserve. Logging of the forest started in 1978 and was continuing in the early 1990s, when only a single compartment remained unlogged.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. In addition to the two listed below, the site also holds five other species of hornbill,
Ceratogymna atrata,
C. fistulator,
Tockus fasciatus,
T. camurus and
T. hartlaubi.
Non-bird biodiversity: Tragelaphus euryceros (LR/nt) is reported to be common and Cephalophus dorsalis (LR/nt), C. ogilbyi (LR/nt), Pan troglodytes (EN), Cercopithecus diana roloway (CR) and Loxodonta africana cyclotis (EN) also all occur.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Traditional ownership of the forest is vested in the paramount stool of Gwira Banso Traditional Area and the Aiyinase and Basake stools of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area. The area has been proposed as a Hill Sanctuary, with some forest completely protected. However, intensive logging is expected to reduce the state of the forest from Condition 2 to Condition 3 (GHI varies from 115 to over 200). No recent mining activities are known, but old gold pits were found in some places near the Draw river. The proximity of this reserve to the Nini Sushien National Park and Ankasa Resource Reserve (GH001) make it extremely important for forest elephant conservation since populations in the area are believed to move between the two sites. Hunting is a serious threat although other non-timber forest produce such as chewing-sticks, canes, poles, oil-palm and raphia palms are also exploited.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Draw River Forest Reserve (Ghana). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/draw-river-forest-reserve-iba-ghana on 23/12/2024.
