Raptors and deer were among species saved from the Carmel Forest Wildfire
50,000 dunams of the Carmel Forest, or nearly half, have been destroyed in the massive wildfire raging in northern Israel since Thursday. The fire is under control but officials said Saturday that it could take dozens of years to rehabilitate the area.
Part of the land is managed by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which contributed fire-fighting equipment and 200 specially trained JNF firefighters to assist in extinguishing the fire. The JNF force was set up during the Second Lebanon War, when frequent fires broke out in forests in the north.
Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, the Palestinian Authority and many other countries sent personnel and equipment to help put out the blaze, described as the worst in Israel’s history.
As the danger recedes, Jewish National Fund Chairman Efi Stenzler said,“We will go tree by tree to make sure they are not still burning. After the flames are put out, our foresters will go tree by tree again to see what can be saved and what has to be replanted. We will replant oak trees, but also almond and pomegranate trees so that people can have shade but also see fruit.”
Some of the forest’s trees were planted by hand, while others grew as part of a natural forest.
Rangers successfully evacuated the world’s largest breeding group of raptor birds from the Hai Bar Nature reserve. Park personnel guarded the reserve’s deer in a fireproof enclosure. The extent of damage to smaller species of animals and plants in the biosphere may never be known.
Stenzler noted, “I’d like to remind all those who set fires either purposely or negligently [that] it takes dozens of years for trees to grow and only a minute to burn.”
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Source: Jerusalem Post
Photo credit: Mike Baird
Author: Hannah Katsman
Hannah learned environmentalism from her mother, a conservationist before it was in style. Once a burglar tried to enter their home in Cincinnati after noticing the darkened windows (covered with blankets for insulation) and the snow-covered car in the driveway. Mom always set the thermostat for 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) — 3 degrees lower than recommended by President Nixon — because “the thermostat is in the dining room, but the stove’s pilot light keeps the kitchen warmer.” Her mother would still have preferred today’s gas-saving pilotless stoves. Hannah studied English in college and education in graduate school, and arrived in Petach Tikva in 1990 with her husband and oldest child. Her mother died suddenly six weeks after Hannah arrived and six weeks before the first Gulf War, and Hannah stayed anyway. She has taught English but her passion is parental education and support, especially breastfeeding. She recently began a new blog about energy- and time-efficient meal preparation called CookingManager.Com. You can find her thoughts on parenting, breastfeeding, Israeli living and women in Judaism at A Mother in Israel. Hannah can be reached at hannahk (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
We have the dominion over all creation – to care and till the land. With our 36-year tropical tree-planting and agroforestry experience in Africa, Ghana, we shall join the people of Israel to replant all that the fire has destroyed – we are not consumed! We are strong as ever !!! Dr. Noah and Organic Permaculture Design Team, Institute of Tropical Agriculture(KITA), University Box 293, KNUST, Kumasi. Ghana. West Africa.
Shalom,
Dr. Noah