State of the trees and gardens in Fraser’s Hill

I WAS at Fraser’s Hill recently and was dismayed by the sharp visible decline in the forest and garden environment.

Many trees in the forest fringes and along the roads are dying. In particular, the spectacular tall palms of Caryota maxima have reached the end of their lives and are dying from the top downwards. The pines (two-needled Pinus merkusii and three-needled Pinus caribaea) and native conifers such as Podocarpus and Dacrydium are overmature. Mature trees have symmetrically rounded crowns, while overmature trees have broken shapeless crowns due to death of branches. It looks as if there has been no new planting for decades.