Despite their biological and economic value, the montane forests of Rwanda have been under immense pressure from nearby communities in search of forest resources and land for agriculture as a result of exceptionally high human population densities. Natural resource use in the park includes bamboo cutting, tree cutting, honey collection, mining, and poaching of mammals. Duiker densities are very low as a result; buffalo were extirpated in the early 1980s, and the last elephants were shot in 1999 during a period of instability.
