Dear Friends, I am a forester from India with 35 years of experience. I have been reading with interest, the discussion regarding negative impacts of Eucalyptus plantation on biodiversity. I had lot of experience with Eucalyptus. The area where I worked is in western part of India state of Gujarat. The temperature ranges between 20 to 40 degrees c. the rain is from monsoon from June to September and is 20"- 25". Actual rainy days are few and are between 20 to 30 days. Forests in the area are Dry Deciduous Type to Scrub type of forests with small areas of Moist Deciduous Type. The dominant specie is Teak with its associates. When I joined the forest service in 1961, there was a scheme to plant fast growing trees to meet with ever growing demand of wood for housing,fuelwood and industrial need. I should say it was a folly to convert Teak forests with all its biodiversity of more than 40 timber growing associates and number of species of herbs and shrubs catagory. The species selected was hybrid of Eucalyptus comaldulances and E. territecornis. The forests which were depleted due to grazing, fire and soil erosion were planted with Eucalyptus at 6'x 6' spacing. Initially the growth was encouraging but due to paucity of sub soil moisture the growth did not reach the expected girth,but height growth was better. The cutting cycle was at 10 years which had to be changed to 15/20 years. Even then it did not give expected yield. It is a proven fact that Eucalyptus planted at closer spacing,does not permit any growth and is detrimental to biodiversity of the area. In agroforestry I was first to introduce (cultivation) planting of Eucalyptus with irrigation by farmers. Initially the farmers could get the agriculture crop along with rows of Eucalyptus,but within next two years agricultural crop was not possible. The spacing was 4' in row and 10'between the rows to permit intercrop. Eucalyptus is strong light demander and its water need is more than deciduous tree crops. The farmers however got good growth of Eucalyptus due to Irrigation and soil working in between the lines. The success of the species is therefore site specific and need oriented. The Bolivian experience indicates for certain that it would not support biodiversity but growth factors may be good.However one has to decide whether development should support biodiversity or the need for particular tree crop. *********************************************************************** M.B.Mehta E-Mail: g_mehtaa@qualcomm.com 12593 Sora Way Phone: 619-538-0506 San Diego, CA 92129 Fax: 619-538-0866 USA ***********************************************************************
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