Growing Forests in the Desert - The Negev, Israel

Very inspirational. If we can do it in the Negev, we can do it anywhere.

I have crap internet, can you post a synopsis?

I imagine it's similar to most desert projects: water saving earthworks, increase organic matter, increase mulch, plant appropriate species. That being said, I always love to see how people address these issues.

Abe - I feel for your crap internet connection!

You are basically correct. In a way, the project is similar to the Loess Plateau project (same loess soils and huge amount of land degradation)
--starting at the top of the watershed (hilltops) build swales and infiltration basins (dry lakes) on terraces - looks like they planted the trees IN the swales/basins - which is common in drylands - this slows and spreads the water so you don't get the massive runoff and erosion events when it does rain (they get about 7.8 inches of rain a year in a few rain events - typical drylands - flood/drought/flood/drought)
--use adapted trees - these act to infiltrate the soil - the loess tends to bind up just under the surface so the roots break this up, build organic matter, create condensation which adds moisture to the air.
--after a time, you have water standing in some of the previously dry lakes. Tree canopy coverage is holding down the mass amounts of evaporation that takes place in this hot dryland. More plants and animals move into the area as the ecosystem starts to repair itself
--people enjoy being outdoors, interacting with nature
--nearby cities benefit - more naturally occurring groundwater is produced by the swale system and held in the ground through the trees, air pollution is lessened...
--scientists studying the forest have found this dryland forest sequesters the same amount of carbon as a rainforest!!
--Stats - generic: each person will have to plant on average 200 trees to compensate for their lifetime carbon footprint. This particular project has planted 240,000,000 trees to date.

Thanks, Jennifer! I appreciate the summary.

Thanks for posting this--can anyone provide more detail about the techniques used here? they say "desert forests require a great deal of expense and maintenance" and don't make it clear whether the strategies employed handle this or if they're just saying they need people to send more money to them...? also are they harvesting dew? Thanks!

Joshua - I don't know the real response to your question but I postulate that the expense comes in the setting up of the terraces and earthworks and also the nurseries used to grow out the trees. Maintenance is probably in the form of repair of earthworks and replanting of trees that don't make it. It does seem like a bit of a "send us money" proposition at the end - and perhaps they are calling on the global Israeli community and others to participate, at least financially, with them.

Can water harvesting like that done in the Negev work on gravelly loams...not clay? Will water infiltrate too quickly to get to trees planted in a swale if the top soul is gravelly?