A picture of the situation and suggestions for reserves and a unique area that I think should have been a reserve: Ein-Gadi, Eilat Mountains, Neot HaKachar
I spent many years in each of the places and learned its uniqueness, its importance and what (in my opinion) should be done to preserve it. The things were written about twenty years ago, when the view of Ein-Gadi and the Eilat mountains was suitable for the time of writing (relevant) while the view of Naot HaKacher was from a distance of many years , the things were forwarded as a proposal for policy and activity to the "Nature Reserve Authority" and unfortunately the treatment was amateurish and superficial today the situation is partly or mostly different and if he writes the things I will treat them accordingly.
Ein Gedi
Location: on the edge of the African Depression, west of the Dead Sea, at the foot of the Judean Desert from an altitude of minus four hundred (sea level) to two hundred and thirty meters (the head of Ma'ale Essene), an area of about thirty square kilometers. Proximity to the Dead Sea gives a relative "fusion". High temperatures in the summer and pleasant in the winter.
Borders: The reserve is bordered to the north by the green line - Mount Yishai, to the west of the green line; Mount Avishi, to the east the agricultural areas of the kibbutz - the mouth of Nahal David and the mouth of Nahal Arugot, to the south the southern cliff of Nahal Heber - since writing this, the Southern Judean Desert has been referred to as a reserve.
The soil: in most of the reserve a calcareous rock cover and a little flint, in the areas of "ancient agriculture" silt collected on the slopes, on the slopes of the flowing streams - black and salty soil produced by the weathering of the calcareous cliffs in the desert with organic silt. At the edges of the streams, the remains of Hvar HaLshon water: four main springs - David, Shulamit, Ein-Gadi, Ergot and dozens of other secondary sources, all of them are layer springs that are fed by rains in the Judean region. The water is of high quality: one hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty mg melts in a liter, in the current line of springs and about thirty meters above it there are signs of springs that have probably been disrupted in the last few centuries, perhaps due to a geological shift.
Exhibits from the plant world that combines: Mediterranean, Tourno-Iranian, and Sudanese flora. In the mid-sixties, the following were planted at the entrance to Nahal David: zakum, moringa jujube and others that are considered local today, a few figs and Indian sesame, probably cultural refugees.
The animal world is rich and represented by: mammals: the most famous of which are the chamois, the rock hare, the rock fox and perhaps still a tiger. It should be noted that the small predators are pushed out by cats and domestic dogs that have "gone wild" and because of their habit of living alongside humans, they take over the area.
The birds that stand out are the tristrums and many others beside them. Among the reptiles, the viper-eye-gadi and other snakes are famous. The insects are represented by a special species of ants that weave nests and hence oil: weaver ant, nymphs, building ants and more. In the water there is freedom, bedbug-scorpion-giant, an attempt to spawn fish to control mosquito larvae failed.
There has been human settlement and activity in the area for at least six thousand years. Human activity that changed the character of the area: the eastern slopes of Mitzvah-Ein-Gadi that were cultivated in terraces are an example of this, the agricultural crops on the terraces were irrigated by all the water from the springs and the streams were completely dry most of the time. Apparently in the vicinity of the springs there was little flow which allowed for residual vegetation and maybe even a few wild animals.
The streams resumed their flow after the Arab period when Ein-Gadi, despite being a settlement, was deserted and visited only by shepherds. In 1953, the Nahal department settled in the place, which formed the basis for the establishment of Kibbutz Ein-Gadi, the kibbutz moved to the "Hill" in 1964, and in the place that was located at the foot of Tel Goren, a youth hostel and a field school were established, in many days these also moved to the Mount Yishai slope, i.e. Today there are three bodies that use about eight percent of the spring water.
In the XNUMXs an agreement was implemented requiring the parties to leave water to flow in the creeks, but following the drop in sea level the flow in the creeks "falls" and disappears, in Ein-Gadi there is no proper treatment of the water and therefore there is no flow that irrigates the slope. Thousands of hikers trample the paths of the reserve every day, deepening the paths that become flow channels, trampling vegetation, disturbing the animals and leaving trash in places that are difficult to remove.
The agricultural settlement creates a constant conflict between the wild animals and the farmers, goats, rabbits and tristrums see themselves as partners in the fruits of the field. Until the opening of the road to Jerusalem, Ein-Gadi was relatively isolated and the human pressure on the reserve was not so heavy, with the opening of the road there was a lot of human pressure.
With the drop in the level of the Dead Sea and the appearance of potholes in the fields, Kibbutz Ein Gedi is moving to depend more on the tourism industries, which should have released water to the reserve, but the kibbutz established a factory to fill bottles and continues to pump all of its quota. In other words, two main problems require a solution: water and the public. The water problem can be solved by reclaiming and recycling water, reclaimed water will be used to irrigate orchards, ornamental gardens in the kibbutz, in the hostel and in the field school. The savings will be directed to free flow in the reserve! To some extent, part of the solution is implemented but not enough, for the problem of excess visitors I was required when I managed Ein-Gadi and my unofficial solution was to close sections of the reserve to visitors, I arbitrarily closed sections of the reserve to the general public, later the situation was confirmed and became official, in Ein-Gadi as in many other reserves , a fence (established to prevent ibex from entering the agricultural areas) gave the possibility to control the number of visitors, and a "dilution" of the number of visitors came about with the collection of "entrance fees", but the large crowd is led by the Society for the Protection of Nature and other organizations, and these come down to the reserve on purpose that are not controlled or fenced off, therefore to the extent that it is not acceptable ("popular"), a carrying survey of the reserve must be carried out and, based on the results, the number of visitors must be limited.
Elsewhere I recommended what is accepted in many countries - developing and developed: full participation and full responsibility for the operation of the reserve by the local residents, that is, the members of the kibbutz will be the inspectors, cashiers, workers and managers in the reserve, and also part of the income from the entrance fees will be directed to the community - to the kibbutz, and thus the preservation of the reserve will be an issue Another financial (main?) in the kibbutz
for the benefit of all parties.
With the completion of the rewrite on Ein-Gadi, it became clear that a fire had damaged large parts of Nahal-David. After a fire in 1973 it became clear that Ivy prevents the fire from spreading. We decided to create "lines of fire" by planting rows of ash trees across Nahal David. The method proved itself in two fire outbreaks that did not spread, it is possible that internalizing the experience and its results would have prevented much damage.
Some time ago, vicious criticism was leveled against Kibbutz Ein-Gadi for "drying up the reserve" and today in the wake of the fire, the criticism is rising again and I couldn't help but respond below: Because of my familiarity with the reserve and despite my personal inclinations in favor of nature conservation I was not "happy" When I saw the attacks on the kibbutz, along the lines of "Kibbutz Ein-Gadi dried up the reserve".
It is clear that in order to address the issue in terms of the amount of water secreted into the reserve, one has to rely on measurement data and metrics that are not in my possession. But: the Ein-Gadi reserve, like the other consumers in its vicinity, is fed by four springs: Ma'in David flowing in Nahal David, Ma'in Arugot flowing in Nahal Arugot, Ma'in Shulamit on the southern slope of Nahal David, Ma'in Ein -Gadi on the eastern slope of Mitzpe Ein-Gadi.
In Nahal David, the catchment of water is located under the hidden waterfall, so the entire western area is not affected by the amount of catchment. To the east of the catchment, I don't see any "drying" on the contrary, due to plantings on the entrance path, the wadi looks greener than ever. Further east there is a drying up which I attribute to the falling level of the Dead Sea water, this is based on the work of Eli Raz. The same situation exists in Nahal Arugut, what's more, there has been no catchment in the Nahal for a long time Active following a flood that destroyed the pipeline, today there is drilling that does not affect the water flow to the west of it, and again the drying up in the east of the stream (which is not visible to those who do not know the place well) is caused by the drop in sea level .
A kind of Shulamit is caught at its source, part (it is agreed) of the water springing from below the catchment, being absorbed into the slope, watering it and appearing as a small flow in the southern wall of Nahal David and continuing in the stream. The slope ( The Mushka) is as green today as it was thirty years ago. As for the flow in the stream, the water is absorbed along with the water from Ein David. The intake pipe from Ein Shulamit leads to Ein Ein-Gadi where the intake at the source releases a quantity Water is collected for a small pond. In the area of the mine, the reserve workers are supposed to divert the water from the pond to the canals that will irrigate the surroundings of the mine and the slope below the mine, when the canals are properly treated, two floodplains are created under the mine that are not visible today, which leads to my assumption Because the water distribution system in the vicinity of Ein Ein-Gadi and the treatment of the canals are lacking.
Such a deficiency can certainly lead to the drying out of some of the vegetation on the slope below (to the east of) Ein Ein-Gadi. But again such drying is not visible (certainly not through a camera lens. That is: those who send TV photographers to take pictures The "drying" reserve is used in the ignorance of others (the photographers and the general public) since most of the photos of the drying are from the old hostel, indeed at the time the old hostel was a flowering garden (tended by the ornamental staff of Kibbutz Ein-Gadi, the water for irrigating the plants came from the pipe coming down from Ein-Gadi. Since the hostel moved to the slope of Mount Yishai, as well as the construction of a field school, there is no irrigation at the site which was the first settlement point of the Nahal nuclei who established the kibbutz, without irrigation the site dries up and that's a shame - but this is not the reserve.
Another area that is drying out is a grazing field that at the time I received from the kibbutz: with the increase in the penetration of goats into the agricultural fields on the one hand and the beginning of collecting entrance fees on the other hand, a fence was erected that bordered the agricultural areas to the reserve, to prevent attempts (from the goats' side To penetrate the fence, I received from the kibbutz about twenty dunams intended for pasture for goats. I sowed Rhodes grass in the area for pasture, watered it (with water and pipes that I received from the kibbutz and in a short time a green spot was formed that attracted goats A lookout was set up at the place for the welfare of the bulls (and everyone was satisfied. Whoever takes a picture of the same place when it is dry (because they stopped watering it) and shows a "dry reserve", is simply ignorant.
There are indeed dry areas, some of which are not protected and others are dry due to improper care, comparing them to a blooming garden in a kibbutz that blooms because of unique climate conditions and because of the water, but most of all blooms because of the investment of dedicated work for many years, such a comparison is made by Ignorant people who were sent by people with bad interests.
I have no doubt that Kibbutz Ein-Gadi is not an all-blue Talit, but it is worth remembering that there are other consumers of water: the parking lot at the entrance to Nahal David is watered and so is the entrance path. The youth hostel on its gardens consumes water, Sade High School may in the future look almost like the kibbutz since the trees and grass are growing and green (at the expense of the reserve's water), therefore those who start the slanderous campaign against the kibbutz are sinning against the truth and the issue .
In the following chapters we will deal withProper square And bThe mountains of Eilat.
