Natural forests on Java have been generally cleared and remnants are now confined to mountain areas Although legally protected, these forests are used by local people for products like firewood, timber and fodder Locally, such exploitation is carried out daily by hundreds of people, whose livelihood depends on forest products Using a landscape-guided approach, a 15,500 ha area of montane forest in East Java has been sampled and analysed at the sylvatic mosaic level Vegetation types, sociologic species groups and vegetation structure are described for landscape units The most accessible landscape units have the most degraded forest with basal area values < 15 m2 ha−1 and a canopy closure of < 20% The least accessible units have relatively undisturbed forest with basal area values of > 45 m2 ha−1 and a canopy closure of > 60% Human activities such as tree cutting have altered species composition and modified forest structure to such an extent that large stretches of forest have been replaced by woodland or shrubland Forest degradation is described as a human induced process in which basal area and canopy closure are ultimately reduced, in spite of regrowth Comparison with other forest areas on Java shows that degradation as a result of tree cutting is a widespread phenomenon