Kibale forest received National Park status in 1993. Prior to 1993, it was a Forest Reserve, gazetted in 1932, with the stated goal of providing a sustained production of hardwood timber (Osmaston, 1959). A polycyclic felling cycle of 70 years was initiated, and it was recommended that logging open the canopy by approximately 50% through the harvest of trees over 1.52 m in girth (Kingston, 1967). This history of logging led to varying degrees of disturbance among sites.
