farhan137 wrote:Different aspects that i have discussed are generally points accepted or sought after by masses. Exception will always be there dependent on people's choice and other landscape requirement......of course which can not be discussed as fundamental principles of selection.
Farhan bhai, it's good that you have brought up this point. I agree with all you have said if we are talking about planting one odd tree inside a person's house. In that case, it is that person who will be the beneficiary / sufferer. Even if it happens to be a bad choice, one odd tree will not affect the environment per se though it will cause personal discomfort / problems to the planter in the long run.
However, when we are talking about planting a large number of trees in the community areas, road sides, parks even wilderness etc, we have to be very careful and detail homework / research must be undertaken before starting the project.
I will quote one example which I have already shared with a forum member privately. Around 13 years back I came to know of an area which few decades back was known to be a very green jungle. It was still a good jungle environment but quite a few locals were now working outside because there were not enough earning opportunities in the area. There were disputes on petty issues and even criminal activities were on the rise. When the issue was discussed with few village elders they informed that there used to be good agriculture and animal raising in the area but no more because many of the springs have dried up and they don't have enough water. Moreover, though the jungle is still green, there is somehow not enough fodder for the animals. Since there is not enough to do so either a person has to migrate elsewhere or be powerful enough to get hold of the better lands which are still productive. This has given rise to inter-family disputes and created a situation of "survival of the fittest".
On further investigation it was revealed that few decades back, locals used to cut lot of trees which thinned out the jungle. Forest Dept (of course in good spirit) decided to help the locals and provided thousands of Eucalyptus saplings to the locals, saying that this is an excellent tree with outstanding growth and survival rate. Thousands of Eucalyptus saplings were therefore planted. As it was easier to water the saplings near the springs / nullahs so many of them were planted just close to the waterways / springs. Over the years, they survived well and grew up in to tall trees. Though there were still rains but somehow, the springs dried out. Actually, Eucalyptus tree has enormous ability to store water. One fully grown tree can consume over hundred liters of water per day if available. Due to its fast growth, its roots spread over a large area and consume bulk of the nutrients. The rain pattern also got a bit disturbed and therefore less water would seep in the ground to recharge the springs. Out of that a major portion will be consumed by eucalyptus through its long roots which were everywhere. With the passage of time, due to insufficient recharging, many springs dried out.
Moreover, eucalyptus leaves contain "essential oil" which is extensively used in medicines and is in fact a insect repellent in its natural form (when I go hunting / fishing, I take a few eucalyptus leaves and rub them on my neck, face, hands and other exposed parts to keep the mosquitos and other insects at a distance
). Reduction of insects in the area affected pollination activity in smaller plants. With less nutrients available in the soil and less pollination activity, the propagation rate was seriously effected and plant count in the area dwindled. With not enough grasses and small plants in the area, animals could not be fed properly through the jungle. The slow growing native trees, which included numerous wild fruit trees, found it hard to compete with fast growing eucalyptus. Hence over a few decades, there was an overall decrease in the productive activities which encouraged migration, feuds, etc etc.
Of course all this did not happen due to eucalyptus alone; there were many other contributing factors which played their part. However, eucalyptus did have role in degrading the environment which affected the socio-economic strata of the area.
Luckily, better sense prevailed, most of the eucalyptus trees were cut, their stems removed (which was a huge task) and in their place, original native trees of the area (blue pine, Kachnar, Lasoora, Harar, shisham, maple etc) were replanted in big numbers and now, the area is in a much better shape. Forest dept rendered lot of help to the locals and provided most of the saplings free of cost (bulk of which consisted of blue pine and kachnar, the dominant tree of area.) Out of some 40,000 saplings planted, around 13000 survived and are still doing well. The ecosystem has been restored to an extent and in a decade or so, would be revived, hopefully. This is a true story but it may not be desirable to reveal further details. However, we can learn relevant lesson from it if we want to....
All those who did this did not do it purposefully to destroy the ecosystem. In fact they did it in good spirit to revive a jungle which was on a decline. There intentions are not to be doubted as they did something which was very very desirable, from ecological as well as religious point of view. However, there knowledge and understanding of the whole issue was very very questionable which caused lot of environmental degradation in the coming decades. Eucalyptus is an outstanding tree for areas with high water table and even saline areas but for a normal area, it's a killer. But Eucalyptus is not at fault here. It did what nature has designed it to do. It is our fault that we planted it in the wrong area.
That is the reason I feel that selecting a tree (for mass plantation) is a job involving great responsibility and should never be undertaken without proper research.
On personal level, I always prefer local trees or trees which are very well settled in our environment and their attributes are well known to us. In large size trees, Neem, Amaltaas are my favourite. In smaller trees, kachnar, dhak, largerstromia and few others are incomparable. And than there are many local fruit trees which are very useful....
regards