After we returned from Phi Phi we contacted the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) to ask for their comments on the state of the dune.
QUESTION: Is the Royal Forestry Department happy with the work carried out by Fox on the island?
RFD: Yes, we are satisfied.
QUESTION: Will Fox be given their bond back now that the one year is up?
RFD: We have sent in the report to the Director General about this and it is up to him to decide.
QUESTION: Has Fox left the island or are they still working there?
RFD: The big team has left, only a small group are left to take care of the island. They are looking after the plants and provide us with a boat to remove the garbage off the island.
QUESTION: What is happening about the big blue water tanks in the middle of the island. Do they belong to Fox or you?
RFD: We will keep the tanks for fresh water if we need to water the plants this summer. They belong to Fox but the RFD will ask Fox to donate them to us. Rangers who live there also need the blue tank for fresh water.
QUESTION: I found the remians of the toilet built by Fox in the middle of the island (near the water tanks). There are concrete blocks there and some blue pipes. What will happen to this?
RFD: Actually, theRFD asked Fox to leave many things for rangers to live on. Unfortunately, they were torn down by the opponents. I did not know there are still some remnants of the toilets there.
QUESTION: You told me last year that after the monsoon you will attempt again to set up a permanent forestry department hut on the island. However, I didn't see any signs of this. Will you still try to do this? Also, as more visitors are expected, will you have a ranger there all day as I saw no-one there.
RFD: The last message from Khun Samran, the new director, was that the rangers are working on building a new office. We need to be careful this time. Last time we had only workers, the other side were many and came with guns. We are working with policemen to ask them to be our escort. I have not talked to Khun Samran about this issue for a month. I cannot really say what is going on until I talk to him again.
QUESTION: What work needs to be done on the dune as it suffered some serious erosion during the monsoon?
RFD: There is no need to do any work. We have to wait for nature to heal itself. We all know that the storm washed out the beach front. The sand will gradually build up on the beach again later. It may take a few years to return to its previous stage (before the storm). What we try to do at the moment is to ask tourists not to climb on the sand dune where we put up the signs to prevent people walking on the sand dune. Last December, 200 tourists visited the island and they climbed on the sand dune, pulling plants and wooden structure to help them up on the steep sand. They did not use the side walk. It did a lot of damage to the sand structure again. Ther number of tourists on some weeks are tremendous and they are too many to use the pathway.
[ February 2000 Reports | Footsteps on the Beach ]