You'd think we'd learn. After all the fuss over the proposed Sungai Selangor Dam, after all the concern over running out of clean water because catchment areas are mismanaged, you'd think we'd know enough to leave such places alone. But no. Now there's a highland area in Sabah that has been opened for logging. And it's an area that is home to the headwaters of Sungai Padas, the lower reaches of which provide water to towns like Beaufort, Tenom and the Federal Territory of Labuan as well as hydroelectric power to the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Logging on steep slopes vulnerable to erosion is bound to affect the quality of the water that ends up in Sungai Padas. In fact, just felling trees to create a logging road into one part of the highland forest has already turned some rivers and streams in the area muddy with earth washed off cut and exposed slopes.