11 April 2006
School's in - lessons in eco-forestry
A forester demonstrates
© Greenpeace/Prout
This morning we joined the students from Kuni tribe and foresters from FPCD (Foundation for People and Community Development) on a field-training trip. Most of the ecoforestry training takes place in a classroom at Boboa village this week, but there are also days like this, when the students practise fieldwork. Our studies will continue over the coming weeks, along with training in the use of the portable sawmill.
We took off with two boats from Boboa to the Kuskus clan forest area. About 20 students and a bunch of Greepeace volunteers who joined the field trip.
The foresters had chosen a starting point, from which they drew a 200 metre baseline to the forest. Every 20 metres they placed a stick with a yellow ribbon on it, to record the distance from starting point. From each stick another line continues to the left and right.
Along these lines there is a stick every 20 metres. In this way, the foresters form squares of 20x20m. In this case the squares cover about 3 hectares of forest.
In each of these squares, an inventory of trees that can be harvested is taken. The diameter of the tree has to be at least 50cm. It has to be at least 50 metres from a lake or a river. A maximum of 15 trees per hectare can be harvested, according to eco-forestry principles. Trees that animals or birds use for nesting and feeding are not felled. The felling direction of the tree is chosen carefully, to minimize the impact on surrounding vegetation.
The result of the inventory is a map showing what kind of trees all the squares have. Once an order arrives, landowners can take a look at this map and go directly to the right area to find the trees that are needed. The main species that is targeted for export is New Guinea rosewood (Pterocarpus indicus), which is a good raw material for furniture.
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Comments
how i wish here in the philippines there are also lessons such as these. these would be very useful in sustaining what's left of our forest cover. and it isn't much. i guess in a lot of countries, forest cover isn't that much anymore. it's such a shame how most people disregard it. but still, we must hope! and so, best of luck to the stewards of the paradise forests...
Posted by: densio at April 14, 2006 6:47 PM
