'Slash and burn' key to growing mahogany trees
Date: 30-Nov-01
Country: UK
Researchers in Indonesia claim planting seedlings in slash and burn fields imitates what happens in nature when a fire follows a hurricane and is better than other ways used by forestry experts to re-establish mahogany trees.
"Part of the reason is that mahogany thrives on natural catastrophes," the weekly science magazine said.
Laura Snook of the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia and researchers in Central America found that planting mahogany under the forest canopy does not work because the trees need plenty of sunlight.
But they can withstand strong wind and fire and often get a head start on other species after a hurricane or fire.
When they compared planting techniques in experimental plots in Mexico they found that 49 percent of seedlings survived in slash and burn plots, compared with 31 percent in plots that had been cleared, and five percent under a closed forest canopy.
"The findings are influencing forestry practice," said the magazine, adding that Mayan Indians in the Yucatan peninsula were being encouraged to plant mahogany trees, which get a higher price than other hardwood, in slash and burn fields.
