Crocker Range


Crocker Range is a mountain range in West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia that separates the west and east coast of Sabah. At an average height of, it is the highest mountain range in the state with the range is named after the British administrator in North Borneo, William Maunder Crocker.

Geology

The range is made up of uplifted and folded sedimentary rocks consisted of weathered soft sandstones and shales. The highest point is Mount Alab at located outside the protected park area. Most of the park boundary lies above with its lowlands used for cash crops and paddy field. On the east of the range located the Tambunan Valley at which are mainly terraced paddy fields and groves of bamboos border the north-eastern part of the protected park. The park area is important as a water catchment to supply water into various river in the west coast and interior districts of Sabah including Papar River, Kimanis River, Bongawan River, Membakut River, Padas River and Melalap River that flow west to the park while the Pegalan River, Pampang River, Apin-Apin River, Tendulu River, Melalap River, Liawan River and Tikalod River flow the opposite direction.

History

The area surrounding Mount Kinabalu has been a state park since 1964 and was the country's first World Heritage Site. Part of the range has been gazetted for protection as Crocker Range National Park since 1984. Through the Bornean Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation Programme, a technical co-operation existed between the government of Sabah and Japan International Cooperation Agency to innovate Community Use Zone concept as a management option to address the issues concerning indigenous communities living and utilising resources within the protected areas. Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest mountains in Southeast Asia, is part of this range. In 2014, the mountain range was recognised as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, becoming the second Malaysian site thus designated, after Chini Lake in the Malay Peninsula of Pahang.

Biodiversity

The Crocker Range Forest Reserve area has a wide ranges of flora and fauna diversity and having the highest diversity of nocturnal insects in all the 20 forest reserves surveyed within the Heart of Borneo area in Sabah and recorded a number of endemic species.