Argentina
· The government-operated railroad company in Argentina is reported to have signed a five year contract with a local firm at Santiago del Estero for preservative treatment of 2.5 million wooden sleepers of quebracho blanco (Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco) at an approximate cost of U.S. 22 cents each. Quebracho blanco is a tree that occurs in the Chaco forest area extending from Santa Cruz (Bolivia) to Matto Grosso (Brazil), western Paraguay and north central Argentina. Its physical properties make it very suitable for use as railway sleepers (crossties) once the wood has received preservative treatment. Mr. C. E. Elliot, Deputy Director of the Forest Products Divisions, Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, while serving recently on an FAO technical assistance mission on wood utilization in Argentina, emphasized the value of using treated quebracho blanco for sleepers as a means of making wider use of indigenous timber species.
Burma
· The first plywood plant to be set up in Burma has gone into production. The plant, which was imported from Japan. has been established by a leading Burmese timber operator. Its present production is 850 sheets of plywood, 4 feet x 8 feet, per day with unskilled labor. As this labor becomes more skilled, it is anticipated that daily output will be considerably increased. A contract has already been made for the supply of 50,000 sheets of plywood, valued at kyats 10 lakhs (U.S. $21,000), to a West German firm.
'The introduction of plywood plants in Burma, as well as other new forest utilization industries, was recommended by FAO expert, J. A. von Monroy, who carried out an assignment some years ago to advise on the development of integrated forest industries in Burma.
Canada
· The Canadian forest industries, an official report to FAO states, experienced in 1957 their first major set-back since the close of the second World war. A record total utilization in 1956 of almost 3,500 million cubic feet, representing an increase of 5 percent over the previous year, was followed by a sharp drop in output during the latter half of 1957, when a general recession in business activity affected the forest industries to a varying degree in all sectors.
The general decline in building construction in Canada and the United States resulted in a reduced demand for Canadian lumber, production for 1957 being 12 percent lower than in 1956 and 14 percent below the 1955 figure. Lumber exports also declined almost 8 percent from the 3,900 million board feet exported in 1956. It should be pointed out, however, that exports to the United Kingdom increased by 5 percent over the previous year.
Although the production of softwood plywood in 1957 did not show an increase, the influx of Japanese plywood into North America caused an unfavorable reaction in Canada's hardwood plywood industry, indicated by a 14 percent reduction in the output of birch plywood. Poplar plywood, on the other hand, continued to expand its capacity, and production for 1957 rose by 12 percent.
An increase in consumers' stocks of newsprint in the United States resulted in a noticeable downturn in shipments of newsprint by mid-1957. The production for the year, however, was only I percent lower than the previous twelve months. 'This reduced demand in the United States adversely affected the entire Canadian pulp and paper industry. Output of wood pulp in 1957 was down by 3 percent, and the 1957 newsprint production represented only 94.7 percent of rated capacity for the year, marking the first time since 1946 that total production was less than 100 percent of capacity.
· Forest policy in Canada in the last few years has been influenced to a marked degree by a series of Royal Commissions inquiring into the present status and future prospects for Canadian forestry and by increased implementation of the provisions of the Canada Forestry Act.
In British Columbia, the second Royal Commission on Forestry in 10 years examined all aspects of forestry in the light of developments during the last 10-year period, and inquired into the extent, nature and value of the forest resources. As a result of its recommendations, new forest management licence applications will be discouraged for 5 years and, in future, the term of these licences will be limited to 21 years, with provisions for renewal. The principle of public working circles will be continued but their name will be changed to "sustained yield units". Although a forest commission was not recommended, the sole commissioner for both Royal commissions was appointed forestry adviser to the government of the province.
In New Brunswick, a forest development commission was created to study the forest resources of that province in relation to their protection, management, utilization and development. The more important recommendations of this commission included the substitution of a system of forest rentals for the present stump-age charges; long-range planning for land use by forestry, agriculture and society at large to give stability to forest tenure and management; the setting up of a nonpolitical forest advisory council; and the development of a well-designed sampling system for enumeration of forest production on private lands.
In Newfoundland, a Royal Commission on Forestry examined the forest resources of that province and recommended that future forest policy should aim at the maximum possible development of the pulp and paper industry, and that an adequate forest protection administration be set up and a forest service established.
The Royal Commission on Canada's Prospects was appointed to report on the "probable economic development of Canada and the problems to which such development appears likely to give rise." In addition to a comprehensive report, prepared by the Commission, a series of studies was made of almost every phase of the Canadian economy. The Outlook for the Canadian Forest Industries outlined the historical development of the forest economy, analyzed the forest resource situation, the probable effect on future forest production of losses from fire, insects and disease, and studied the lumber, pulp and paper and allied industries and their Canadian and foreign markets. This report, which was mentioned in Unasylva, Volume 12, number 3. predicted that the Canadian forest industries, as a group, will more than double in size by 1980.
Courtesy, China Features, Peking
· Research in forestry is conducted by a number of agencies in Canada. The provincial governments administer Crown Lands within their boundaries, but only three have established forest research units carrying out research programs of a relatively local nature. Limited programs of research are conducted also by the four university forest schools and by certain of the larger pulp and paper companies. The Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada is jointly sponsored by the Federal Government, McGill University and the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. Its function is to promote and engage in research relating to the pulp and paper and allied industries and to establish and supervise technical standards for these industries. Research foundations also are responsible for studies in the various fields of forestry.
In spite of the number of agencies outside the Federal Government carrying out research in forestry, a very high proportion of this work is the responsibility of two federal government departments. The Forest Biology Division, Science Service, Canada Department of Agriculture, carries out research on insects and disease affecting forest and shade trees. The Forestry Branch of the Federal Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources carries out forest research, forest products research, and research in the economics of forestry. Forest research includes investigations in silviculture and forest management, forest fire protection, and forest inventory methods. Forest products research includes studies in timber mechanics, wood preservation and chemistry, wood utilization, pathology, and plywood and timber physics. Forest economics research includes analysis of forestry statistics, studies of forest legislation at all government levels, and investigations in economic problems related to forestry.
· The Canadian International Paper Company has published a well-illustrated booklet in English and French entitled Land Use in Canada. This summarizes in an excellent manner the way in which a timber-using industry, aware of its dependence on the small private woodland-owner for a considerable portion of its regular supply of raw material, can help itself by helping him.
Industry, with heavy capital investments in timber-conversion plant, must be assured of a regular and perpetual supply of raw material within an economically transportable radius of the conversion-site. It has both the incentive and the financial means to carry out research into methods, tree species and equipment that produce the best results. And all that is learnt is advantageously passed on to the small owners in the neighborhood, together with the necessary technical advice, guidance and even the loan of equipment and the supply, at cost, of planting material.
The company's research center becomes a demonstration area to which farmers are invited to come and see for themselves what can be done. Staff is available to visit the farms of those who are interested or in trouble, and to advise and assist, since the interests of the industry are best served "when the farmer himself is getting the best possible return from his forest farm and we can be sure he will stay in the tree farming business - and perhaps keep more of his sons and daughters on the land than he does now."
In many areas of Quebec where the land is poor and the light, sandy soil only able to produce thin pasture or poor crops, the initiative and guidance offered by the timber industry is changing the landscape from one of derelict, abandoned farmsteads to green, productive forest.
Denmark
· Most bigger forest districts have a certain permanent staff of workers, who are occupied in the forest all the year round in the cutting and planting season supplemented by casual laborers. The last category is engaged in agriculture during the rest of the year. Some of them are smallholders.
Almost all Danish forest workers are members of a trade union (the Danish Laborers Trade Union) which comprises all groups of unskilled laborers. Agreements have been concluded between the trade union and the forest owners' federations or in a few cases with each forest proprietor separately. The organization of the forest workers in a trade union has in the course of the last 35 years secured them a very considerable improvement in real wages. Since 1938 the current - generally 2-year - agreements have contained clauses about rise or fall in wages every six months according to the index figure, so that the workers have always received full compensation for the rising cost of living
Under an Act of 20 May 1933, it is incumbent on every employer to keep all his employees insured against the consequences of any accident. To this was added in 1950 sickness insurance and daily allowance insurance. Through their trade union the workers are also to a certain extent insured against unemployment.
Up to about 1940 Danish forestry could easily obtain the necessary labor. A marked change has taken place singe then. It is the recruiting of young workers which has failed. Some years of training is required to learn to handle modern saws and axes so efficiently that high piece wages can be earned, and it seems as if young people do not have sufficient patience for this. Statistical investigations from the Forest Workers' School seem to show that a person will not reach his maximum output until he has worked from 7 to 10 years in the forest. Further, a general flight from the country to the towns is noticeable. A solution to these problems may be found in the increased use of powered tools in forestry operations.
Federation of Malaya
· The Federation as a whole still has no forest policy although most of the states comprising it have subscribed to a statement of policy in general terms. Under the new constitution, forestry remains a matter, as it had been previously, on which each state is empowered to legislate, the power of the federal Parliament being confined to such forestry legislation as may be necessary to promote uniformity between two or more states. The constitution, however, does provide for the establishment of a National Land Council whose responsibilities include the formulation of national policies for land, mining, agriculture, and forestry. The council is composed of representatives of the Federal Government and of the eleven states, and will, it is hoped, provide the machinery for negotiation and decision, the lack of which has hitherto stultified all attempts to agree on a common objective.
It is not to be expected, however, that results can be achieved quickly. Self-sufficiency in timber, as the main aim of productive forestry, will probably involve a 50 percent increase in productive forest reserves from 8,000 to 12,500 square miles (20,720 to 32,376 square kilometers). Much of this can only be found in the eastern states of Pahang, Trengganu, and Kelantan which must, therefore, agree to assume responsibilities as national timber providers far beyond anything they have so far accepted. These are weighty matters whose determination may require more time, study, and negotiation between states than a new Government can spare. Moreover, in a land still covered in forest to an extent of 70 percent, it is difficult for the layman to see the need for hurry.
This situation must probably be accepted for the moment, but there is one direction in which action is essential and achievable. It has been known for many years that Malaya could not support itself indefinitely in timber if it had always to depend on virgin forests whose yields were comparable to those being exploited today. One of the major tasks of the Forest Department has therefore been to develop a method of converting the existing low-yielding natural forests to others having a yield four or five times as great This has been successfully done, but the progress (which takes place as the original trees are exploited for timber) requires time because the growing of the new trees takes something like seventy years. There thus arises the apparent paradox that the Federation as a whole is comfortably self-sufficient now, and can be so a century hence, but may well run short of supplies for a period in the interim when the requirements of a still rapidly expanding population outstrip the growing of these new timber crops.
It has only been realised singe the war that the population explosion now occurring in Asia might have this effect, and that in the Federation of Malaya an actual shortage of timber might occur. The Forest Department's belief is that a shortage will almost certainly occur, and that it will do so at the turn of the present century. Whether it will last for a relatively brief period and be of manageable proportions or become permanent is a question that will be decided by what is done in the next decade or two. One thing is clear, however: if the danger facing Malaya is that the demand for timber will outstrip the growing of the new tree crops, it follows that the most effective defense against it is to set about growing the new crops as rapidly as possible in those Forest Reserves which have already been dedicated to that purpose, without waiting for precise agreement on each state's final responsibility in the matter.
Israel
· For the last few years the Director of the forest research station at Ilanoth has received a yearly grant from Mr. William Mazer of New York to enable Israeli foresters to travel abroad to study certain aspects of forestry. The grant given to these foresters is either "full", which finances the entire tour of study, or "partial", which subsidises foresters abroad who want to extend their period of stay for a special study. So far, three foresters have enjoyed "full" fellowships, studying in turn plant propagation in Italy, afforestation in Southern France and Corsica, and the utilization of small size timber in England, and two additional foresters had partial assistance to study poplar cultivation in Turkey and afforestation methods in Spain.
The funds of the grants have been more than enough to cover these expenses and the Director of the forest research station has received the consent of Mr. Mazer to invite foresters from abroad to study at Ilanoth for 2 to 3 months. All expenses of the tour are paid, including local and incidental expenses, travelling to and from Israel, and travel in connection with the investigation of the particular forestry problems being pursued by the visiting forester.
So far, two foresters have been in Israel under this scheme: a member of the Istituto di Silvicultura in Florence, who worked on soil survey problems and whose work is about to be published by the school of forestry in Florence, and a French forester who worked on poplars. A Spanish forester is preparing to go to Israel, selected by the Director-General of Forests in Spain from a long list of applicants.
Applications for travelling fellowships may be made through national forest services to the Director, Forest Research Station, Ilanoth, Box 88, Nathanya, Israel.
Netherlands
· Agricultural Aviation is the new quarterly trade journal of the agricultural aviation companies in Europe, published from Boschstraat 4, The Hague.
During the last decade the use of aircraft in agriculture and forestry has increased considerably throughout the world. The airplane has appeared to be a powerful weapon in the struggle of man against food shortage, a food shortage caused by the damage done by insects, diseases and weeds, but which may also have been brought about through exhaustion of the soil when it is insufficiently fertilized.
Agricultural Aviation is designed as a forum for all those who - wherever in the world - are in some way concerned with the use of aircraft in agriculture and forestry. It aims to keep them posted on any new technical developments in this field: new types of aircraft with the application equipment going with them, agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. Its columns are open to research workers who want to publish articles on their work with aircraft, which are intended for a highly specialized group of readers who may he expected to be interested in such articles.
New Guinea
· The postwar growth in the timber industry in Australian New Guinea has been spectacular. The annual log cut in the territory now exceeds 50 million super feet per annum (227,000 cubic meters), compared with 13 million super feet (59,000 cubic meters) in 1948-49, and it is estimated that the total value of production is more than œ 2,000,000 per annum. Several large sawmilling enterprises are operating, and a plywood factory and a veneer slicing factory have been established.
The quarterly bulletin of the South Pacific Commission reports that a recently-approved program for future forestry development in the territory provides for a considerable expansion in forest survey work. The objective will be the dedication of four million acres (1.6 million hectares) for forestry within ten years, and ten million acres (4 million hectares) within twenty years. At present, 400.000 acres (162,000 hectares) of forest land have been acquired.
Additional trained forestry staff is being recruited and the European and indigenous field staff augmented. As staffing permits, consideration is to be given to the manning of additional forestry stations. A forestry school is to he established at Bulolo to give training for positions in survey, silvicultural and marketing control work.
Research work will be continued on the silvicultural problems associated with hoop and Klinkii pine plantations, and emphasis will be given to the problem of natural regeneration of the main forest types of the territory.
Reforestation will be expanded, particularly in the Wau-Bulolo forests of New Guinea, in the Trans-Keravat forest of New Britain, and in the Mt. Lawas territorial forest near Port Moresby. Regeneration will be encouraged wherever appropriate.
Experimental afforestation is to be undertaken on the extensive grasslands of the Highlands to provide basic information on suitable silvicultural techniques in erosion control works and the reclamation of grassland areas.
Provision is made in the current program for investigations to continue into the utilization of the many untried tree species available in the forests of the territory. Close liaison in this work will be maintained with the Division of Forest Products of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
The task will be continued of building up a botanical collection of all the varied forest plants in the territory as a basic service to the Department of Forests and private sawmillers.
New Zealand
· With the steady expansion and continued prosperity of pastoral farming in New Zealand, the pressure of demands for the release of forest land for agricultural use has not abated. The land-use commit tees (composed of experts in the fields of agriculture, forestry, soil conservation and land development) appointed to advise the Government on the final disposal of land, the use of which is disputed, have thus been fully occupied, and many large areas will have to wait some years for decisions. However, the trend towards piecemeal release of fertile lands and the acquisition of land needing permanent protection has progressed well, and the Forest Service has now acquired control over a very large proportion of all coastal sand dunes that require fixation.
Establishment of new production forest resources, both privately - and publicly-owned, continued steadily between l956 and l958. But because of conditions affecting land use described above this has been very largely restricted to land already held as forest land.
Acquisition of new areas for production forestry is hindered by- the very high cost of land in those regions where a timber shortage makes afforestation particularly desirable. For this reason certain demands for government action in parts of Auckland, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago cannot he met; and the Forest Service has encouraged farm forestry as an alternative source of timber supply.
Public awareness of the importance of high-country catchments is growing, and the problems caused by fire and grazing with consequent erosion, shingle deposition and lowland flooding are being more intensively tackled.
The first phase of the National Forest Survey, the assessment of the indigenous timber resources, has been completed and the volumetric results for all forest types according to species, tenure and accessibility published in May 1957. A national survey of exotic resources has begun, and also a survey of protection forests, by catchments. The latter was given priority because of the critical state of many high-country catchments revealed by the first phase of the survey A range and experiment station has been set up in the South Island to conduct the survey, and undertake research in animal/vegetational relationships and in range management techniques under the general direction of the Forest Research Institute.
· It is officially reported to FAO that the timber industry in New Zealand, which has been built up considerably since the end of the war, has now reached a point where its capacity of approximately 650 million board feet (1.5 million cubic meters) is sufficient both for home consumption and export.
New Zealand is now by far the world's largest producer per head of population of preservatized timber for building purposes. Species of timber available? traditional methods of house construction and developments in preservation techniques are the main reasons for this. The increased use of exotic softwoods which are just as liable to decay and no less susceptible to insect attack than indigenous timbers, and the difficult! of ensuring throughout the life of a building that moisture cannot enter any part? demand the wide use of preservatized timber Much controversy has naturally arisen regarding the effectiveness of various types of treatment and the extent to which treated timber should be used in a building.
In September 1955, the Government, in order to resolve these questions, set up a Timber Preservation Authority under the Timber Preservation Regulations, 1955. The principal function of the Authority is to secure and maintain a high standard of timber preservation. All treatments carried out must be in accordance with the requirements of the Authority, which has established an inspecting organization under the New Zealand Forest Service. The Authority has adjudicated on and approved a number of specifies and methods which were previously the subject of controversy. Notably the application of boron compounds by diffusion has been accepted for all timber requiring treatment for light building construction other than those for use on contact with the ground. The regulations under which the authority functions permit it to prescribe that no preservative-treated timber can be marketed unless the treatment and the marking of the timber agrees with the Authority's requirements. Progress in preservation practice and use of treated timber will now be quickened. Latest figures show that 17 percent of total timber production was treated by diffusion and pressure impregnation in 1958.
Treatment of exotic forest thinnings is continuing to fall short of demand, although treatment facilities are steadily being increased. This treatment enables this otherwise low utility produce to be used for farm and engineering requirements where durability in the ground is important.
The pulp and paper industry now comprises three integrated units producing sawn timber, chemical and mechanical pulp, paper and paper board. There are two plants producing paper and tissues raw materials, imported and home produced.
Plans for further expansion are in different stages of preparation and it is expected that newsprint and kraft paper production will have doubled by 1965. Present production figures are 90,000 tons of mechanical pulp; 120,000 tons of chemical pulp; 65,000 tons of newsprint; 38,000 tons of other paper; 28,000 tons of paper board; and 21,000 tons of fibreboard.
Construction of the first wood particle board plant has been completed and consideration is being given to establishing a second one.
Import restrictions on steel and imported timbers have given added impetus to the use of radiate pine in glued laminates for constructional purposes. Already several buildings employing glued laminates have been erected and great interest is being shown by engineers and architects.
The trend towards the increasing use of the moderately dense indigenous hardwoods in light building construction has continued. Grading rules for tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) following the pattern of rules in use for the principal indigenous softwoods used in building have been approved by the New Zealand Standards Institute Committee concerned with revision and extension of grading rules. The same committee is now considering rules for the three main indigenous beech timbers along similar lines. Tawa has its main uses in building in flooring, interior finish and furniture, but wider use of lower grades for framing is now envisaged. End-matching has been introduced for flooring of this timber and also for red beech (Nothofagus fusca). Preservative treatment of beech mining-timbers has become an established industry using diffusion methods of impregnation.
Nyasaland
· The Chief Conservator of Forests writes as follows:
"I feel that I should draw your attention to an apparent inaccuracy in respect of this country in the otherwise most useful and interesting article "Pines for Tropical Areas" in Unasylva, Vol. 12, No. 3 of 1958."Nyasaland. P. cembroides, P. taeda, P. pseudostrobus, P. canariensis, P. montezumae, P. elliottii, P. patula, have been successfully established at 3,000 to 7,500 feet (900 to 2,250 meters) with 40 to 110 inches (1,000 to 2,800 millimeters) rainfall and are very promising, while P. longifolia has been established at 2,500 to 3,500 feet (750 to 1,000 meters) with 30 inches (750 millimeters) rainfall and is promising. Indifferent results have been obtained with P. caribaea and P. leiophylla."
One reference for Nyasaland is given at the end of the article, namely: Willan R.G.M. and McQueen D.R. Exotic Forest Trees in Nyasaland. Paper presented to the Seventh Commonwealth Forestry Conference, Canberra, Australia, 1957. As the passage quoted above from the article conflicts entirely with this paper, of which I was one of the authors, I feel that I should point out the following facts:
1. Pinus cembroides has never been introduced into Nyasaland, and it is not listed in the general list of exotic trees at present growing in Nyasaland given at the end of the paper. As far as I am aware P. cembroides is not a synonym for any other species which is mentioned in the list.2. In the paper both P. patula and P. elliottii are given amongst the five exotic species grown on a commercial scale in Nyasaland. In actual feet the plantations now run to many thousands of acres and timber is being milled and sold, so it would appear to be a rather peculiar understatement to say merely that they have been successfully established and are very promising.
3. P. roxburghii (syn. P. longifolia) is included in the list of other exotic species which are growing successfully on a small scale pending assessment of their future potentials, together with P. taeda, P. pseudostrobus, P. montezumae and P. canariensis.
4. P. caribaea and P. halepensis are included in the general list of exotic trees growing in Nyasaland. There is no statement to the effect that 'indifferent results' have been obtained with them, and in actual feet the growth of P. caribaea is exceptionally good, while P. halepensis grows very successfully, though on account of its poor form as compared with certain other species, it is considered unlikely that it will be grown on a commercial scale here. I might add that the growth of the majority of the trees in the general list is entirely satisfactory, but as they are not grown on what might be termed a 'commercial scale', they are not given separate treatment in this paper.
If at any time contributors to Unasylva require any information on forestry in Nyasaland, I shall be only too pleased to assist them with up-to-date information."
Paraguay
· Writing in the United Nations Review, a former Resident Representative of the United Nations Technical Assistance Board describes how he took a special interest in the jungle area which borders on Brazil and Argentina, not only because it is the source of logs and lumber and quebracho extract, which constitute most of Paraguay's exports, but because it seems destined to play a very important part in the economic future of Paraguay.
The Paraguayan frontier with Argentina and Brazil is marked here by the River Paraná and a great program is now under way for the planning of land settlements, roads, ports and new villages, in which an interesting part is being played by United Nations and FAO experts.
The Paraná river is one of the great waterways of the world. It is as long as the Mississippi and has an annual flow no less than five times that of the Nile. A highway, which will link the capital with the neighboring countries, will be carried across this river over an international bridge about 500 yards long and 270 yards high, an arch which will be the highest concrete structure of its kind in the world and which will join the new highway to a Brazilian road running to Paranagua on the Atlantic.
This will be a step of the greatest importance for Paraguay's economic development, as it will offer the country for the first time in 400 years direct access to a free port on the Atlantic coast. Paraguay has always suffered from the disadvantages of being a landlocked country, whose access to the sea depends on its rivers.
Poland
· The sale of timber and of wood products is in the hands of the Central Management of Sales, which disposes of 17 regional offices, constituting a link between producers of wood products and consumers In view of the timber deficit, especially of certain assortments, sale is based on central allocations fixed for each of the industries.
An official report to FAO gives the annual consumption of timber per caput in Poland as 0.53 cubic meters. In terms of roundwood, timber consumption breaks down as follows:
|
|
Percent |
|
Housing, industrial and rural construction |
40 |
|
Mining (pitprops-80 percent) |
18 |
|
Transport, telecommunications, power |
8 |
|
Packaging |
4 |
|
Furniture industry |
6 |
|
Cellulose, paper production |
11 |
|
Fuelwood |
7.5 |
|
Other purposes |
6.5 |
The relatively high consumption of timber is due to the considerable needs of the country resulting from war damages, and to the underdevelopment of industries producing building materials and materials substituting timber. If it is to develop its economic life, Poland must exploit more timber than the annual allowable cut of around 12.5 million cubic meters. At present the country is taking from its forests around 16 million cubic meters of timber. How ever, recent efforts made towards substituting timber by other materials indicate that cuttings should begin to drop within the next few years, until reaching the theoretical limit.
Rhodesia
· The forest clearance operations carried out in connection with the Kariba Gorge scheme in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland may prove to be the greatest ever undertaken. The scheme, which will cost about U.S.$15 million, involves the damming of the Zambesi river some 300 miles below the Victoria Falls. The Kariba dam is the largest in the world and behind it an artificial lake will within four years cover about 2,000 square miles (5,000 square kilometers).
In order that this vast new lake covering what was previously forest and bush country, may supply fish as well as, indirectly, hydro-electric power, large zones in the area of the Zambesi valley now being flooded are cleared of brush and trees and then leveled to constitute future fishery beds. One zone cleared 16 miles from the dam covered 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) and another 46 miles upstream an area of 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares) south of the Zambesi, along the Sengwe and Bunni valleys.
The larger trees in the clearance zones are axe-felled including numbers of giant baobab (Adansonia digitata) trees, many of them 50 feet (16 meters) in circumference. The smaller trees are pushed over by means of two 320 h.p. Caterpillar tractors pulling a 16-ton chain whilst a third tractor pushes the chain against the tree, In one zone of 8,000 acres, 1,000 baobab trees were felled and an estimated 64 million cubic feet (1.8 million cubic meters) of wood burned. The trees in the areas between the fishing beds are not being felled, but channels are being driven through them and lined with marker buoys. Through these cleared channels the fishing fleets will eventually be able to sail from one fish bed to another.
· The Conservation of Natural Resources,1 recently published, is intended to serve as a practical conservation guide. The sacrifice of technical detail to reach this objective has been offset by the coverage given to the conservation field in its widest aspects. The book, which forms a valuable addition to the literature in the field of applied conservation, is based on experience in the south, east and central parts of Africa but Africa's problems in these areas are not different from those found in the dry tropical and subtropical sections of Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, the Near East and Far East, and in the Americas.
1The Conservation of Natural Resources - R.C. HAW, 255 pp. illus., Faber and Faber Ltd. London, 1959
Land-use planning in its broadest sense is given recognition throughout the book The need for the mapping and classification of land as to capability and use and the integration of this information into workable local and regional plans is stressed: plans, based on land capabilities and water resources, should include provision for domesticated crops and pastures, tree woodlots and shelterbelts, timber producing and protection forests, managed range grazing, wildlife maintenance and fish culture. There are striking examples among the illustrations of "before and after" pictures, showing the results of applied soil conservation work in Africa.
Surinam
· The forests of commercial importance in Surinam may be distinguished broadly as two types: swamp forests in the young and old coastal plains and dryland forests in the interior.
Apart from relatively small forest tracts on old abandoned plantations, all forests are owned by the state and administered by the Forest Service, which was re-established in 1947. Shifting cultivation in this area is tolerated in the environs of local settlements.
The whole logging and timber industry is in the hands of private individuals. On government-owned land, concessions or timber-cutting rights have been granted on an area of about 1.26 million hectares by the Ministry of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Bureau of Lands and the Forest Service. Extraction is done partly by manpower, partly by wheel or small crawler tractors. The logging industry is almost entirely established on the river banks. It is prohibited to cut trees with a diameter less than 30 centimeters d.b.h.
Logs are usually transported by water to Paramaribo, the capital of the country, where 16 sawmills, a plywood factory, factories for crates, strip and parquet flooring, precut houses and precut matches, shops for joinery, molding and furniture are located. The building industry is attaching more and more value to wood preservation and since the end of 1956 a small impregnation plant is operating.
The construction of a particle board factory handling about 50,000 cubic meters raw material-partly wastage of the plywood factory - is nearing completion, according to an official report to FAO.
Though annual cuttings are only about 130,000 cubic meters, the timber industry yields roughly 10 percent of Surinam's annual export values against 80 percent for exported bauxite, the prime natural resource of the country.
Thailand
· In January 1959, the government issued an announcement that drastic amendments would be made to the forest law in Thailand with a view to removing existing loopholes and to putting a stop to present wastage of national forest wealth through illicit fellings and irregular practices. In the meantime, until these amendments could be given effect, orders had been issued to provincial governors to freeze all working of teak and yang forests for 120 days with immediate effect - excluding timber on which royalty or the due price has been already paid to the competent authorities.
These new legislative steps accord with the recommendations expressed by a FAO technical assistance officer, F. Loetsch, who has carried out two assignments in Thailand, in 1955 and 1956-57, to inventory and recommend a program of management and exploitation for the northern teak-bearing forests of Thailand.
By 1957, shifting cultivation and illicit fellings appeared to have reduced the former area of teak-bearing mixed deciduous forest by more than half and only one third of the mountainous forests remained, the rest had been destroyed. The inventory revealed that, unless legal measures were taken to prevent illicit fellings and to control shifting cultivation in teak-bearing areas, the collapse of the Thai teak industry must be faced.
The Minister of Agriculture in the new Government is a former member of the Royal Forest Department. During 1951-52 he traveled abroad to study forest management on an FAO Fellowship.
Union of South Africa
· Of the larger nature reserves and national parks, the Kruger National Park of 5,000,000 acres (2,000,000 hectares), is approximately three quarters the size of Belgium or half the size of Holland.
There are fourteen rest camps scattered throughout the park at convenient distances from one another, which provide accommodation for 3,000 visitors per night, and this limit is strictly controlled by the administrators. The Kruger National Park has shown the way in South Africa as to what can be done with so-called nature tourism.
The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (about half the size of the Kruger Park) lies on the extreme western boundary of the Union of South Africa and South West Africa. This is a semidesert or a thirst land where endless stretches of sand dunes follow one another. They are sparsely vegetated with trees and shrubs which are adapted to the dry and arid conditions. Notable fauna include the gemsbok (Oryx gazella), springbok (Antidorcan marsupialis), red hartebeest (Alcelaphus caamus), and blue wildebeest (Gorgon taurinus). Two rest camps have been built in this area and it is encouraging to see how many thousands of visitors go to the park, which is completely different from the Kruger Park in its appearance, its plants and its animals.
Another national park is the Mountain Zebra National Park in the Karroo, the dry central part of the Union of South Africa, with mountains and escarpments overgrown with plants and trees which can survive under such conditions. This is the only place where the mountain zebra actually occurs. It is wholly protected, as are also other animals which are common in this area.
The Addo Elephant National Park is another well-known place with a very characteristic flora, and where the Addo elephants and other indigenous animals are protected. It is located not far from Port Elizabeth, one of the larger harbor cities, and hundreds of visitors come to the park daily.
Apart from these national parks there are numerous provincial nature reserves, for instance, the Hluhluwe Nature Reserve in Natal where an extremely beautiful subtropical flora is protected and where, in particular, rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) are guarded.
The Department of Forestry has set aside more than 100 localities in the Union as so-called indigenous forest reserves, such as the Knysna Forest in the Cape Province, Nkandhla in Natal, Tsitzikama in the Cape, Sabi in the Transvaal. These forest reserves are strictly protected.
United States of America
· According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, anticoagulant compounds such as "warfarin" give excellent control for rats and mice when properly used. They reduce or prevent clotting of the blood when consumed over a period of several days producing death to animals by causing internal bleeding. Such a compound will not give effective control when applied in a single dose. It must be eaten on five or more successive days which should occur within a period of 10 to 14 days. From 4 oz. to one 1 lb. of bait is suggested as the amount to be placed in each location. For mice, use smaller quantities in more locations.
It is important that ample quantities of bait be available at all times during the baiting program. The bait may be exposed in shallow open trays or self-feeder boxes placed in rooms or dry places where rats and mice feed or travel. Stations should be inspected and bait added daily if needed during the first few days of treatment and at periodic intervals thereafter.
|
Anticoagulant concentrate |
1 lb. (0.45 kg) |
|
Yellow corn meal |
18 lb. (8.5 kg) |
|
Granulated sugar |
1 lb. (0. 45 kg) |
There is as yet no indication that the animals develop either an aversion or tolerance after repeated feeding. Anticoagulants would probably kill any warm-blooded animal if consumed in sufficient quantity over a prolonged period of time. However, the poison concentration in baits recommended for rat and mouse control is so low there appears to be a minimum of danger to other animals. Baits should not be exposed in locations where they may be consumed by children, irresponsible persons, or domestic animals. In case of accidental ingestion, vomiting should be induced at once. In serious cases, treatment by a physician should include transfusion with whole blood and intravenous and oral administration of Vitamin K or K1 preparations according to instructions.
Some anticoagulants are available in a water-soluble form. The contents of each packet or can are mixed with one quart of water and usually exposed to rats and mice in baby chick founts. This liquid form is especially desirable where rats and mice fail to eat dry baits
· The protected area of forested lands and non-forested watershed lands in the United States is now 91 percent of the total in need of protection. The protected area of state and private forest lands was increased by 5 million acres (2 million hectares) during 1955-57.
Further progress has been made in reducing losses caused by destructive insects and diseases by improved detection and evaluation of outbreaks increased attention to preventive measures, and by prompt control action. During the three-year period, 1955-57, insecticides were applied by airplane to over 5 million acres of forest land to control outbreaks of defoliating insects, and by ground equipment to over 1 million trees in a number of projects to supress outbreaks of bark beetles. Additionally, some 2.2 billion board feet (10 million cubic meters) of insect-infested and susceptible timber was logged as an adjunct to control.
Control of the blister rust disease was extended, and this disease is now sunder control in 80 percent of the 23 million acres of white pine control area in the United States. Federal and state governments cooperated in the control of the oak wilt; there were no significant increases in the external boundaries of areas in the 18 states infected.
The United States Forest Service in 1956 consolidated responsibility for control of both forest insects and diseases in a new Division of Forest Pest Control.
· A forest fire research laboratory, near Macon, Georgia, is scheduled to begin operating early in 1959 It will play a big role in helping the South protect its valuable woodlands from fire.
The laboratory is a joint undertaking between the U.S. Forest Service and the State of Georgia. Its purpose is to apply modern science and technology to the job of cutting down the millions of dollars in loss which Southern forests suffer annually from wildfire. Fire scientists there will seek to learn more about the natural laws that affect fire in the woods, and why fire responds in certain ways to weather and natural fuels.
From such knowledge the scientists hope to come up with new more efficient ways to control forest fires. This part of the work will include special studies in convection, heat transfer, and fire physics.
· Resource Training for Business, Industry. Government (Nature Resources Study Committee, 159 pp. The Conservation Foundation, New York 1958) is, as its title indicates, pointedly directed at the lawyers, economists, planners, bankers, business executives and legislators, who are in a position to put to fruitful use the knowledge of the specialists who function as resource technologists. One of the book's objectives is to arouse in such influential men an understanding of the role of, and growing need for, conservation of natural resources in a world where industry often is developed at their expense. These are the men who must be responsible for the application of resource conservation within the framework of such industrial expansion. They are the ones who are in a position to employ the university graduate with training in this field.
At the same time the book contains valuable information on how, at university level, such "generalists" in conservation can most effectively be trained to join the ranks of those whose skills and judgement may be applied practically in resource-use problems.
· Variation in Tracheid Length and Wood Density in Geographic Races of Scotch Pine (R. M. Echols, Yale University School of Forestry Bulletin 64, New Haven. 52 pp. 1958, $1.50) is an important contribution to an understanding of the importance of geographic source of seeds, and should help tree planters in selecting provenances to meet specific needs in terms of wood qualities.
Using samples from 17-year-old trees of 15 geographic races of Scots Pine planted in New Hampshire, U.S.A., as part of the 1938 provenance tests organized by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, the author measured length of tracheids and wood density. These measurements revealed very highly significant variations in both factors in different geographic races.
The trees from provenances with greater day-length in summer appeared genetically adapted to longer periods of light, and were kept from making more rapid growth by the shorter light periods in the more southern latitude.
The study suggests that if wood of high density is desired rather than rapid rate of growth, the more northern provenances should be used. Relatively fast growth and lower density may be obtained from races from Latvia - Poland - Romania sources. A compromise between growth rate and density may be found in southern Sweden and Italian sources.
It is printed in three colors - yellow, brown and green, and features the major aspects of forest conservation: the harvesting of mature timber under scientific forest management and new growth of young trees, home and shelter for wildlife and birds, and protected watershed.The first specifically forest conservation stamp to be issued in the United States commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Theodore Roosevelt, one of the earliest forest conservationists in the country. It also salutes the many private and public agencies which have played a large part in the progress made in the protection and wise use of the nation's natural resources.
