Participants navigate the tough route into the Raja Musa Forest Reserve peat swamp.

KUALA SELANGOR: More than 50 Timberland employees gave time and effort to preserve a peat swamp at Raja Musa Forest Reserve (RMFR) recently.

Serve-A-Palooza is a yearly community service event held by Timberland, an outdoor clothing and products company.

Timberland assistant retail manager Michael Fong said the event at RMFR, which is part of the north Selangor peat swamp forest, was held to help preserve the unique peat ecosystem in the 23,000ha area.

"About 1,000ha of the area was affected by human activities such as land clearing, timber extraction and rapid development, which has resulted in climate change.

"We want to help preserve the peat ecosystem by tree planting and some canal blocking," he said.

Fong said Timberland had always showed a commitment towards sustainable development.

"This year marks the 19th year that Timberland employees worldwide have served under the Path Of Service programme," he said.

He said Timberland's employees were entitled to 40 hours of paid community service.

"It is in line with the company's commitment to serve the community that it operates in," he said.

Timberland's staff, dubbed Earth Keepers, were divided into three groups -- two for canal blocking activity and one for 100 Tenggek Burung tree seedling planting.

Timberland employee Amanina Mohd Nazari, 20, was participating for the first time.

"I feel a little bit tired but I am happy to be part of this community project as it can help preserve the peat's ecosystem," she said.

Ahmad Rahimi Ahmad Razali, 18, also felt fortunate to be part of the team.

'This activity is very interesting because I get to learn how to block the canal and what a peat swamp is all about," he said.

The RMFR is one of the projects under the Global Environment Centre (GEC).

GEC senior programme officer Nagarajan Rengasamy said restoring RMFR was not an easy job.

"We need to monitor the water table once the seedlings are planted to ensure that they get enough water.

"This is where canal blocking comes in to increase the water table and sustain the amount of water in the peat soil," he said.