Many thanks for sharing the Eucaliptine Spirit with us during the last year. We are now over 35,000 readers scattered in 160 countries around the World! Best wishes for 2011!
So what if you received an unexpected call asking you to join a Giant Tree Trek visiting what probably are the tallest trees in Europe... and you said "Yes, Sir (of course!!!)"?
What if as a result of such an adventure you had gathered several hundred measurement data & biological samples, several hundred photographs documenting the whole expedition, and several dozen minutes of video footage depicting such unique Eucalyptus Tree Giants?
The only possible reasonable answer to those three question is... you do it... you enjoy it... and you tell the story!
So... What about joining us & the friends making this all possible in a virtual trek to the "Nova Australia" of Spain & Portugal while chasing Eucalypt Giants with Dean Nicolle?
If your answer is also "Yes, Sir", the only thing you have to do is fastening your seatbelts, and staying tuned... to Eucalyptologics!
And who is that guy?
Dr. Dean Nicolle, "El Cazador de Eucaliptos", has discovered or co-discovered +50 new eucalypt taxa in Australia, helping the known eucalypt biodiversity threshold surpass 1000 taxa. He is the Director of Currency Creek Eucalypt Research Arboretum, the most complete eucalypt collection and genetic repository in the world, with +90% of those taxa represented and cultivated for scientific purposes. He has collected and preserved +5000 eucalypt genetic lines, many of them endangered species or subspecies, some facing extinction risks. He is author or co-author of +50 scientific articles on eucalypt botany, and his work has made +40 extra articles by several international scientific research groups possible. Arborist and ecologist, his remarkable eucalypt tree inventory surpasses +9000 specimens, and from it, +4000 technical reports on remarkable eucalypts have been produced, including +150 new additions to the Australian Giant Tree National Register.
For over five decades now similar trends for planted forest establishment and management in temperate Atlantic climates have developed in several areas of the world after Max Jacobs & the pioneers of that time sparked the Global Eucalyptus Development Era. New technologies and know how developments in forestry tend to work like that. One or several "tree hubs" start pioneering one or several processes, starting by tree species trialling and refining the silvicultural practice, and later by working out or refining the different timber based industrial processes. And as forestry R+D spreads both within the public & private sectors in each of these "tree hubs", the different pieces of the know how puzzle can bee identified and put together, at the same time large scale operational timber plantations spread.
For the particular case of temperate eucalypt cultivation, these processes have meant the creation of bonds between foresters of distant places, between forestry research teams around the world, and between different nations, normally with many things in common, besides the same trees.
As an example of this, Galicia, the timber reserve of Spain, producing +50% of its yearly roundwood output, the rainy and green Northwestern Corner of Iberia, has many things in common with some other areas of the world where these particular eucalypts have become a sizable planted forest timber resource. One of those other areas is Southeastern Australia, particularly Tasmania and its virgin forests and planted forests. The area of the world where several of the key eucalypt species cultivated in Atlantic temperate climates do originate. Reason enough to inspire forestry discovery trips joining both sides of the world. From Tasmania, to "Tasmania del Norte".
And now, thanks to the kindness of Dr. Muñoz, and the digital magic of Aula de Silvicultura, you can also access and download a slideshow depicting the state of the art and new trends for Eucalyptus nitens planted forest silviculture in Chile, including very interesting angles, as the necessary operations to achieve an efficient utilization of this eucalypt timber for solidwood uses, and experiences carried on to make the species become, besides an excellent material for the pulp & paper industry, a very promising source of organic, renewable woody biomass when cultivated as energy crops. In addition, further lines of R+D on eucalypt cultivation and industrial processing were outlined: after Eucalyptus globulus & E. nitens, Chile aims now to develop market niches for planted forest products based on specialty timber crops: the new days of Eucalyptus regnans & E. camaldulensis are waiting ahead.
Planted Eucalyptus Forests: A Sustainable Pathway for Global Timber Supply & Forest Preservation
Gustavo Iglesias Trabado GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal- www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS
Planted forests have significantly expanded around the World in the last five decades. This trend has meant, among many other effects, a huge shift of supply sources for raw industrial roundwood, from previously existing forests of many types to purpose made timber crops. That trend has especially been intense for those industrial uses requiring vast amounts of raw timber as base resource.
Among the favoured tree species for the establishment of planted forests in the five continents, the very efficient eucalypts, fast growing, adaptable to many environments from arid lands to tropical forests, able to supply wood of great quality for several current and future industrial lines, and increasingly domesticated, have been paramount. And they will keep being, year by year as they become a high yield and reasonable investment option for many in many places.
However, if you have never been into a planted Eucalyptus forest, and even if you have been, you may yet have a different perception on these trees and their cultivation. Not surprising, considering the continued spread of myths and fables about their negative effects on different pieces of the environment.
One thing is absolutely certain about this all. Without yet considering the amount, type, permanence and reversibility of such hypothetical impacts... these cannot happen wherever those trees are not cultivated. So, the significance of their cultivated area compared to other forest types around the world is a good starting point to understand why many of the statements you may read or hear against these trees and those who benefit from their wonderful properties... coming from varied sources are simply... incoherent, illogical, exaggerated, biased... or intentionally misleading.
Eucalyptus Planted Forests: Key Data on Current Cultivation Area, contribution to Sustainable Wood Production & Sustainable Forest Management Certification Status. (Click image to enlarge)
So, today we bring you some good quality data depicting the significance of Eucalyptus planted forests on the total World Forest Resource, from the points of view of a) Cultivated area versus other Forest areas; b) Industrial Roundwood Output versus that from other Forest areas; and c) Status of Forest Certification as Sustainable according to the two predominant schemes currently common around the world: the dominant PEFC and the also noticeable FSC.
It is by the understanding of these basic figures and what they mean from a spatial and temporal point of view that you will be able to sort out grain from straw, and you will be able to classify any author claiming against these trees into any of the previously mentioned categories. Maybe also this way, you are also able to provide others with a sound knowledge on the cost/benefit ratio of these and other planted trees being the current and future source of most of the organic, renewable and recyclable materials made from wood that you use today and will keep using tomorrow, while you help and contribute, as these planted trees already do, to the preservation of our ecosystems and their functions at a global scale. There is very little doubt that these and other planted forests are some of the best Vital Allies of the Planet available today, and tomorrow.
Did you know that...
- Planted forests, meaning some 2% of global land area, provide, among other goods and services, +70% of the yearly global harvests of industrial raw timber?
- Planted Eucalyptus forests mean considerably less than 1% of global land area, but produce organic materials for over 130 different products you and several other million beings may use everyday without noticing?
- From the whole amount of planted Eucalyptus forests and the industrial timber sustainably harvested from them every year, only a fraction is bio-refined by the global pulp and paper industry?
- Many planted Eucalyptus forests do not even exist for a Productive Function, but are part of Protective Planted Forests helping to quickly improve endangered or restore degraded soils, to prevent erosion and loss of agricultural productivity, or as beneficial complements for other farming activities?
- Both the PEFC and the FSC, plus other organizations, have already certified millions of hectares of timber productive Planted Eucalyptus Forests as Sustainably Managed?
Interesting eh? No doubt, these trees are one of the most diverse and useful plants we human beings have domesticated in the last 200 years since their discovery in Australia. And they will keep being, you like them, or not.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - Opening the International Trade & Exhibition on Forest Science & Technology. 68 Governmental Agencies, Forest Education & Research Organizations & Forest Industry Firms around the world stand in Seoul.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - Forest Discussion at Sub-Plenary Sessions, outlining the key topics on each of the 9 main Congress Themes.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - Forest Specialists share & discuss at the Technical Sessions during 943 oral presentations of the latest advances of Forest Science in issues related to Climate Change, Biodiversity, Environmental Services, Sustainable Production, Emerging Technologies, Forest Health, Social Forestry & Environmental Security.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - The New Lights of International Forest Science, the impressive amount of 1153 posters displaying the latest advances in Forest Research around the world.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - The Decission Board of IUFRO, the equivalent to the "United Nations of Forest Research", meets in Seoul to review recent activities & establish the new directions for future work. Representatives of +100 countries around the World participate of this Congress and its activities.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - Over 2,500 foresters, forest scientists, forest policy makers, forest educational organizations & forest science students from the 5 continents have gathered in Korea to share the results of their research & knowledge and to discuss how to build the Forests of the Future.
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - The Bibimbap ("Korean Mixed Rice") Symbolic Performance, with all its ingredients conveniently placed in the same bowl, ready for mixing & feeding Forest Research around the World. (If you wonder, yes, they also mixed those in the picture & later ate them for lunch!).
XXIII IUFRO World Congress - The Drums of Forest Science beat in Seoul, and from Korea, their sound is to be heard worldwide.
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Welcome to the blog space of GIT Forestry Consulting. Here you can find regular comments on a wide range of topics concerning practical knowledge onEucalyptus cultivation, be it at nursery stage, at your gardens or at wider scale forestry plantations in cold temperate climates. Our main objective is trying to help growers worldwide with their doubts or comments in a more interactive way. In addition to the material here you are also welcome to visit our main website or contact us.
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