Eucalyptus globulus: a noble wood from Galician planted forests (I)
Gustavo Iglesias Trabado 
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS
We have previously travelled the Eucalyptus cultivated forests of Galicia in Northern Spain to show you how the adopted Australian trees have yielded over 1500 million € to tree growers in the last cultivation cycle. And we have also seen these trees are the source of one of the best wood fibers in the world for papermaking, but that not everything is pulpwood when we talk Eucalyptus.
Today we will see one of the many examples of eucalypt timber plantations being the source of positive economic impacts on other industrial activities different from what is purely forestry, of positive social impacts on rural populations of both coastal and hinterland areas, and of positive environmental impacts linked to CO2 capture and storage. For the Galician case, we will see it is not a nonsense saying that without Eucalyptus, one of the finest sustainable Acquaculture and Seafood farming operations in the world, the Galician Mussel & Oyster industry, would not exist.
Fig. 1: Galician "Bateas" (Mussel & Oyster Farms) are built using plantation grown Eucalyptus globulus sawn timber: master beams, secondary beams plus mussel or oyster cultivation frameworks have been made of plantation grown Tasmanian Blue Gum solidwood for over 50 years. (Click image to enlarge)
EUCALYPTOLOGICS has recently toured the Galician World of Spanish Eucalyptus in the good company of Australian visitors. From Tasmania, and as part of their Eucalyptus World Trip, representatives of Forestry Tasmania, Britton Timbers and McKay Timber have been able to spot on site the whole process of Mussel Farm building, from eucalypt tree harvest to the final assembly of wooden structures at dockyard.
Fig. 2: Tasmanian & Galician sawmillers visiting a plantation grown Eucalyptus globulus mussel farm at its coastal dockyard: Manuel Sánchez Torrado's expertise as Master Naval Carpenter has greatly contributed to make a sustainable timber based acquaculture industry possible in Galicia. (Click image to enlarge).
Even if the story of Eucalyptus cultivation in Galicia spans for longer a time, it all started seriously some 65 years ago. A nearly treeless country had started to cultivate fast growing Australian trees as source of raw material for several future industrial lines. The Eucalyptus coastal rainforest of Spain started to grow, and soon was able to replenish the increasingly scarce local hardwood supply. No other tree than Eucalyptus globulus, so well adapted to the mild and rainy climates of the Rias Baixas estuaries, had ever grown so fast in Spain to produce long timber. "Paus Largos", as we say here in the Land's End.
By 1945, the first wooden raft was laid down in Galician waters. The target was cultivating shellfish for a thriving fish and seafood canning industry. As efficiently as possible. As cheaply as possible. With as easily available materials as possible. As you well can imagine, Tasmanian Blue Gum timber floats quite well. And, with some skill, E. globulus long timber can be transformed into long beams.
Fig. 3: Galician Batea (Mussel Farm Raft) at dockyard. Its wooden structure is 100% made of Eucalyptus globulus solidwood and assembled over +25 meter Long Beams. (Click image to enlarge)
Today, over 3,000 Galician plantation grown Eucalyptus wood made Mussel & Oyster Farms float in Spanish waters. Their existence provides over 10,000 direct jobs to rural Galician families, only accounting seafood farmers. Many more if we consider the timber cultivation and supply part of the equation. They are the solidwood base on which the production of over 250,000 tonnes per year of mussel and oyster takes place.
But, of course, the timber part of the story does not end up at the ocean. Eucalyptus globulus keeps being useful even after being soaked in a natural salty preservative for years. So, the sea gives back what it borrowed: reclaimed Eucalyptus Long Beams become building material. After serving their first purpose, the wonder trees keep generating jobs, added value, and a fantastic and unique organic material of natural beauty.
Fig. 4: The life cycle and CO2 storage lifetime of plantation grown Eucalyptus globulus timber used for mussel farm building ranks in the "well over 100 years" timespan in Galicia. Reclaimed wood is used for fine grade building in both "old and new" styles, either as structural timber beams or as unique visual treat. Fine carpentry expert examples, as Hijos de Vicente Suárez works, expand the possibilities for noble wood uses of Tasmanian Blue Gum timbers and the value adding process: from forest to ocean, from ocean to housing. (Click image to enlarge).
Same way as Eucalyptus virgin fibres are recycled as paper is recycled creating a long term pool of stored CO2, and hence being an useful tool in the fight against climate change, Eucalyptus globulus timber beams, after sustaining an environmentally friendly sea farming industry, are also recycled.
Each of these plantation grown eucalypt timber pieces contributes to slow down the harvest of native hardwood forests with high value for preservation in other areas of the world, which is a positive externality, and an example of positive environmental impact. Each beam contributes to more efficient energy saving processes for raw material production, as this wood is totally organic, and, as every type of wood, built by nature using solar energy. Each Galician mussel is a living proof of cultivated forests and oceans being capable of working together to generate sustainable products and services. Remember that each time you may read eucalypt plantations are not sustainable, or that the "foreign trees" cannot bur harm your local ecosystems.
Galician Eucalyptus Wood Built Mussel & Oyster Farms: How it is done
Fig. 5: Check this video depicting the "Ruta do Mexillón" (The Mussel Trip), from your favourite mussel gourmet dish to the Eucalyptus timber used at dockyards to build mussel & oyster farms in the Arousa Estuary. Courtesy of "Desde Galicia para el Mundo"
Eucalyptus, the Galician Way: Timber & Seafood
Fig. 6: Tasmanian & Galician Eucalyptus sawmillers enjoying a local seafood and "churrasco" barbeque in the coastal rainforests of Galicia, the "Tasmania of the North". Of course, firewood is also eucalypt wood. Galician Albariño plus Queimada were nice treats adding flavour to the Mussel of Galicia!
Acknowledgements
To Peter Volker (Forestry Tasmania), Glenn & Shawn Britton (Britton Timbers, Tasmania) and Tony Jaeger (McKay Timber, Tasmania) for stopping by in their discovery trip around the world after the Eucalyptus beyond Australia. To the Suárez siblings and their staff (Maderas Hijos de Vicente Suárez Blanco SL), Alfonso and his staff (Maderas Costiña SL) and Master Carpenter Manuel Sánchez and family (Astilleros Manuel Sanchez Torrado SL) for their hospitality and daily work at forest and sea. To Isabel Puentes (FEARMAGA - Galician Federation of Sawmillers and Timber Suppliers) and Juan Picos (Asociación Galega Monte - Industria) for their support and company during the Mussel Day. To the fishermen and seafood cultivators of Galicia, for making it possible. To the tree growers and silviculturalists of Galicia, for making it possible too. And, looking back to days past, let's not forget to thank Alfonso Ozores, Marquiss of Aranda and the House of Rubianes for thinking like a mussel. And let's not forget either to thank Rafael Areses, Forester and eucalypt planter extraordinaire, for thinking like a tree at the same time Navarro de Andrade did.
Also at Eucalyptologics...
Sawmilling Eucalyptus globulus: a Galician Tradition
Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics
GIT's Eucalyptology Topics
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Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - EucalyptologicsGIT's Eucalyptology Topics
© 2007-2010 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.
Posted by David N TX on 5/11/2010, 5:38 pm, in reply to "Eucalyptus trees producing Seafood? Yes :-) (You know, Spain is different)"
ReplyDeleteAt what age did you become interested in Eucalyptus and trees in general? Did you go to school for this? Where other Eucalyptus tried besides globulus for timber? Other favorite Eucalyptus for home landscape purposes? Thanks.
Hey David :-)
ReplyDeleteHaving some woodland just across the road since being a kid may have helped Then a Forestry school helped some more. To understand this scientific forestry stuff from an American perspective, may be good to read what Carl Schenck and Gifford Pinchot started for the United States some 100 years ago (let's also blame Sir Dietrich Brandis).
Eucalypts have been grown in Europe since Australia was settled more than 200 years ago. In this area of the Atlantic Europe, for some 180 years. Many species have been trialled for many years around here (I have found over 50 around), but for different reasons, only a handful have become widely cultivated for timber. E. globulus was simply the best adapted one for our conditions. In other places, other species did better.
The good thing is that there are over 700 possibilities for eucalypt choice, and as Australia has a so wide variation of soils and climates, you can find suitable ones for almost any area of the world (excepting those with very restrictive winters). Some widely common, as they are cultivated in over 100 countries around the world. Others rare to very rare in cultivation.
Home landscaping with them however is a bit more tricky. Each climate will rule out many possibilities no matter how stubborn you are growing them. Available space for the tree should rule out many more. And finally, the desired feature the trees are expected to give back to the grower should rule out some more. You can watch some examples working well in some places here. And there is a wealth of information at Ian Barclay's Hardy Eucalyptus Page too. Not to mention, there are eucalypts in TX for quite a long time, and in the USA for over 150 years!. And some people growing them around there too.
Posted by Bob in Winston-Salem on 5/11/2010, 8:41 pm, in reply to "Eucalyptus trees producing Seafood? Yes :-) (You know, Spain is different)"
ReplyDeleteGus,
Having been in both Galicia and Asturias and having seen these eucalypt forests firsthand makes your report even more meaningful. I saw the trees everywhere. Asturias and Galicia reminded me more of Ireland than Spain. I'd love to come back some day.
Incidentally, this afternoon I watched a program on another giant of the tree world: the California redwood. It was truly fascinating. A mature tree contains enough wood to build 2,000 picnic tables. Trees that have been cut usually sprout from the roots and form what are called "cathedral trees". The sprouts form a circle around the original trunk as they grow, forming the cathedral. According to this program, the latest logging methods are actually increasing the number of redwoods. Instead of the old method of clear cutting large swaths of land, timber companies cut only select trees. As a result, other trees receive more sunlight and thus grow quicker. Timber companies have ample wood to process, and the forests are thriving.
The largest documented tree in the world is a redwood, which stands just shy of 380 feet. Redwoods get as much as 25-50% of their water from fog. Scientists think that trees in the foggiest areas could possibly grow to 450-500 feet. Amazing.
Indeed they are very visible in the coastal belt, and yet they mean a small % of the total available land around here, but they mean 25% of total timber harvest for the whole of Spain. We the Northerners are the "timber reserve" of the country.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right Bob, this area is more like Oregon, Ireland or Tasmania than the typical image of the arid Spain. Hopefully next time you're around, schedule allows a meet up and visiting some scenic areas. There are plenty!
The Californian redwoods are a natural wonder, be them as standing trees, be them as one of the most beautiful timbers in the world. Balance between preservation and timber use is, of course, good a thing. Luckily it was possible for California and its redwoods before it was too late, and it was possible for many other areas of North America.
However, no two places are similar for forestry, for trees, or for the pressure of timber products demand on available supply. We had some 1800 extra years of pressure on the native timber resources, until they were depleted. Either we needed new timbers grown locally, or we would be contributing to deplete timber resources elsewhere in a much larger amount than we currently do.
Selective harvest makes sense, where it makes sense. Cleafelling can make the same sense, where it makes sense. One thing is certain, scientific forestry is based on one basic principle: trying to obtain products and services of the forest "ad infinitum". So, destroying the forest is no goal, even for the case of clearfelling. Making it yield sustainable yields, is. And making it with as less impact on the other pieces of the ecosystem as possible, is. The solution is never universal, each area has its best fitting range of solutions.
May the old giant trees be left standing in enough numbers, so, at least, but hopefully more than just that, the new generations can still walk in amusement among them admiring what we all had once, when we were fewer in this blue ball, and we needed less.