Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, the fire in the Jerusalem mountains points to the danger of planting

In the fire in the Jerusalem Mountains that broke out on August 15, thousands of animals perished and about 14,000 dunams of forest burned. Was it possible to do something, especially in view of the worsening of the climate crisis, in planning the forests in Israel?

on August 15, 2021 gap A forest fire near the settlement of Beit Meir in the Jerusalem mountains, about 20 km west of Jerusalem. As the fire spread, about 14,000 residents from the area's settlements were evacuated from their homes. Several buildings in the settlements of Ramat Raziel and Givat Yaarim caught fire. The fire services achieved partial control of the fire, but the next day at noon the fire returned and intensified, and spread towards Jerusalem. At one point, the evacuation of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital was even considered, for the thousands of patients, hospitalized and members of the medical staff there. Only two days later the fire was brought under control. In the fire, several people were injured by smoke inhalation, thousands of animals perished and about 14 dunams of forest (about 2010 square kilometers) were burned - more than were burned in the Carmel disaster in XNUMX.

The burning - part of a global wave

in symbolic timing Released This month (August 2021) Part of the sixth evaluation report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Scientists from 66 countries contributed to the report. It is based on more than 14,000 scientific articles, has over 3,400 pages and has been approved by 195 countries. as that determined Previous reports of the panel - including reports from the years 2007 and 2011 - also state in the current report (p. 11) that there is a high probability of the existence of a connection between global warming and the increase in the number and intensity of unusual weather events such as storms , heat waves, drought - and probably also fires (p. 12).

Trees play an important role in creating cool climate zones, providing shelter for birds and establishing an ecological niche that will allow for an increase in ecological diversity. Trees fix soil and thus prevent drift. This action may become more and more significant as climate fluctuations become more extreme, desertification worsens and torrential rains increase floods and landslides. In a video that received 43 million views, "How the wolves changed the river", describes how planting trees resulted in land consolidation along the banks of the Yellowstone River. The fixation prevented soil from flowing into the river, and thus the river channel deepened. The fish returned to the river, the birds that fed on the fish returned following the fish, and so did the beavers that create dams in the river. An entire ecosystem came back to life. Although the process did not begin with planting, but with the bringing of wolves that chased away the moose, which prevented vegetation from being cut and encouraged the growth of trees, but it was the growth of the trees that set off the chain reaction that led to the preservation and regeneration of these ecosystems.

Ostensibly, afforestation may stabilize the soil and the ecosystem, thus contributing to a reduction in the number and intensity of unusual weather events. The problem is that not every forestry operation is suitable for every environment. Naturally, all forestry is exposed to seasonal fires. Although fires sometimes play an important role in ecological regeneration, not every fire has the same effect.

Fires as part of the life cycle of the forest

A fire is An integral part From the determination of animal migration patterns, and from the growth and transformation of coniferous forests in the Siberian and Canadian taiga, in the temperate and subarctic regions. Burning releases heat and smoke, and these signal the seeds of various plants and trees, including certain pine species (Jack pine, lodgepole pine), to start germinating. There are trees whose seeds the heat cracks and allows them to germinate. There are even tree seeds that are coated with oil that aids combustion.

After a fire, Canadian trees such as aspen and birch regenerate quickly, among other things by sprouting from burned tree trunks. This is how the forest regenerates again through fires, in cycles of 150-100 years. There are types of trees that must be burned in order to grow. If a fire does not break out within a hundred years, the trees die and the buds of their offspring do not develop because they need a fire to clear their area and expose the area to sunlight.

There are trees that can withstand fire more than other trees (pyrophytes), among other things due to thick bark, trunks and leaves with high moisture content, as well as underground parts. But these are mainly tree species that do not exist in Israel, such as pine species (Longleaf pine) and sequoia that grow in the United States, the cork oak that grows on the western shores of the Mediterranean or A type of Australian tea tree. But the advantages of frequent forest fires do not exist in the types of vegetation in the Mediterranean climate, the Israeli land.

Are the trees planted in Israel suitable for the climate?

In the XNUMXs, KKL-Junk started drying the Hula reeds. The drying is intended to eliminate the swamps and add agricultural land. (Malaria had been eradicated even earlier by medical, agricultural and biological means.) But the desiccation of the patient resulted in the destruction of an entire ecological world. A reservoir of fresh water was lost, and unique habitats were reduced. Rare plants and animals dwindled and rare species disappeared from the land, including the white-tailed eagle, the African cormorant (water fowl similar to a cormorant) and fish species that were endemic to the Land of Israel. The drying of the lake led to peat fires and also caused nitrogen compounds to drift into the Sea of ​​Galilee, where these compounds caused an increased growth of algae and damage to fish. In the XNUMXs, the KKL-Junk and the Nature and Parks Authority began to re-flood areas in the area of ​​the original Hula Reed, in an attempt to repair some of the damage caused by the drying.

Similar to the environmental disaster created by the desiccation of the hola, an ecological misconception also exists in the field of planting, but not on a local scale but on a national scale, and not from the 1896s but from the beginning of Zionism, for over a century. In 1920, Herzl wrote: "We must establish a national tree association to plant forests in Israel. Every Jew donates one tree, or several trees. Ten million trees". Herbert Samuel, who arrived in Israel in XNUMX as the British High Commissioner, wrote in his first report: "The tops of the hills and their slopes could have been wonderfully suited for the growth of trees, but there are no forests. Miles upon miles of shifting sand areas that could have been stabilized remain untouched, and threaten to invade nearby cultivated areas." (Alon Tal, "The British Plantations - An Unfulfilled Mandate", Spaces 7: 159.) One of the first laws of the mandate government in the Land of Israel was later known as the "Forests Ordinance". Cutting down trees stopped, nurseries were established for forest trees and hundreds of thousands of trees were planted by the government and privately. Later, and especially after the establishment of the state, planted KKL more than 240 million trees throughout the country. These trees changed the landscape of the country radically. The results were not always positive.

Forestry damage in the Land of Israel

Except for isolated pockets in the Galilee, Carmel and the Samaria mountains, the natural landscape of the Land of Israel is not forested. The landscapes as they were before the activity of the KKKL can be seen beyond the separation fence, around Jerusalem and along Route 19: the surface of the land is rugged, almost completely naked. Here and there there are groves, but there are almost no conifers and no eucalyptus trees, the same trees that were brought from Australia at the end of the XNUMXth century to help drain swamps and have since been planted all over the country. The vegetation is mainly Mediterranean woodland vegetation, sparse grasses and shrubs, and here and there trees from the Land of Israel - oak, olive, oleander, carob, almond, pomegranate, fig and more - are sparsely scattered.

When deforestation is excessive, it suffocates ancient native vegetation, destroys natural habitats of flora and fauna, and when fires break out, it Brings for increased mortality of animals and plants. In a cremation in the Jerusalem mountains in August 2021 perished Thousands of animals, including birds of prey, reptiles, rodents, insects and mammals of hundreds of different species, including deer, foxes, mongooses and badgers. Fires like this cause not only the destruction of planted forests but also the destruction of ancient local vegetation that was trapped among the trees that were recently planted, trees that became a fire trap for them. This trap also causes the destruction of a rich world of flora and fauna that existed in these areas before the plantings. In contrast, in areas with little planting there are fewer fires, and when they do break out - they are less widespread, and many local animal and plant species are saved.

Therefore, in order to renew the burned forests, it is better not to replant dense coniferous forests that are not suitable for our increasingly warming climate. Oak trees, katlev, ella, carob, olive, other fruit trees and other endemic trees are preferable, vegetation that existed for thousands of years in the Land of Israel before the beginning of the mass afforestation operations. A sparse planting is preferable that will create an environment as similar as possible to the one that prevailed in the Land of Israel for thousands of years. Studies in urban gardens in Israel have proven that even sparse tree cover significantly reduces temperature. (Oded Pocheter, "The effect of urban parks and gardens on the microclimate and human comfort: the accumulated experience in different climate zones in Israel", Sustainability considerations in the design of gardens in cities in Israel, Pardes Publishing House, 2014.)

In accordance with these findings, a number of local and regional councils in the area of ​​Jerusalem and the Judean Mountains have in recent years carried out controlled thinning of forests by partial felling. The landscape of the forest did become sparser, but this reduced the danger to the houses next to the forests. In contrast to this approach, a national outline plan for forests and afforestation, TAMA 22, Plans Afforestation of hundreds of thousands of dunams of areas with sparse natural cover of trees.

When we pave roads and build cities in the heart of nature, at least we do not pretend to claim that it is for the benefit of the environment, but admit that we are acting out of a clear human interest. Planting forests, on the other hand, is seen as a distinct environmental act. The truth is more complex: plantings may increase the risk of fires, the polluting and warming effect of fires has increased in recent years due to climate change, and Israel lacks many of the advantages that fires have in temperate and subarctic climate zones. This is how the excess planting in Israel creates a kind of snowball, and in fact a fireball, a chain reaction that amplifies the damage caused by global climate change, damage that also increases year by year. The recent fire in the Jerusalem mountains is another manifestation of these damages. If you come back and consider planting as a means of restoring the burned forests, you should consider not only the expected green in the future, but also the certain blackness afterwards.