90% of the non-fruit trees are finally down. Should be having another 2 or more weeks to go to transform this mess into neat piles of logs and branches, stacked away in preparation for their various functions. Looks like an affront to mother nature; an environmental disaster if you will. However, in the grand scheme of things, this is a necessary evil, the reasons of which I’ve outlined when I fell the oil palm tree.
The thinner branches and leaves would be left at various locations in situ between the durian trees to rot as fertilisers. They may be transported elsewhere to make a hot compost. Bigger branches may be burnt for ashes to be used for general purposes (cleaning, compost toilet, fertilisers). Logs is where things get interesting. The good ones would be converted to raised-bed materials, non-load bearing construction purposes, paths, decor, furniture and a million and one things I’ve yet to think of. The not-so-good ones (odd shapes or non-straight) would be made into biochar and others, kept for fire wood.
Trees not only help sequester carbon, extracting them from the atmosphere and locking them into the ground. They are literally a manifestation of the storage of water in our environment. When I look at trees, I’m actually looking at water. Simple logic. Their root systems take up water that is used in its physiological functions, leading to its makeup in leaves, branches, trunk and root.
Depending on species and season, more than 50% of a tree is made up of water. Similarly, more than 60% of humans are made up of water. When a tree is cut, the ability to absorb ground water is loss, along with its increased released of water into the atmosphere. When it rains, there are no more trees to reabsorb the run-offs, hence contributing to floods. Without trees, temperature soars leading to more evaporation and subsequent water loss. Hence, trees should also be deemed conceptually as water reservoirs.
The scale of purported “environmental carnage” seen here at my farm may not have a significant effect on nature, but imagine if this is done on the scale of millions of hectares. That’s global warming and environmental crisis.
Fret not, as with the felling of these trees I can make plans for a more calculated cultivation of diverse species of plants to make up for whatever temporary loss perceived.
