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Photo slide show showcasing different relationships between Man and trees

© Jennifer Dion (back photo), Virginie Levasseur (top right photo)
A quickset hedge in Sahel

Sahel’s quickset hedge: putting together trees and traditional agriculture

What is it?
Using living trees to protect the cultures of Sahel from livestock and from the sun.
Why?
To contribute to reforestation by replacing fences built by felling trees.
Farmers can benefit from products derived from leaves, fruits and bark of those trees, and even have a wood source at hand.
Who?
The World Agroforestry Centre, thanks to Alain Olivier’s studies.
This agroforestry professor worked with sociology, rural economy and anthropology researchers, in order to better understand the farmers’ resistance to adopting these new agricultural customs.

Clear-cutting in the Chocó region of Ecuador: deforestation continues

What is it?
Clear-cutting a sector of Ecuador's tropical forest.
The country's coastal forests now cover less than 2% of their initial area.
Why?
With the country's population explosion, the area devoted to agriculture has doubled. This "hotspot" of biodiversity is being razed to make room for monoculture of oil palms or eucalyptus.

Improvement planting in Panama: offering alternatives to deforestation

What is it?
Planting native tree species useful for Panama's indigenous communities in degraded secondary forests growing on fallow land.
Why?
To restore value to secondary forests, encourage their conservation, reduce deforestation, protect forest biodiversity.
And to offer small farmers an alternative other than cutting down the forest to graze their cattle: land management that is ecologically, economically and socially acceptable.
Who?
Catherine Potvin (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute), Alain Paquette (funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), and the Emberá community of Ipetí, in Panama.

Tamarugos of northern Chile: reforestation as a source of wealth

What is it?
A plantation of Tamarugos in the Atacama Desert. These trees can survive in a very salty, arid environment, with as little as 75mm in annual precipitation.
Why?
The presence of mature trees facilitates the establishment of seedlings and other species, such as the larvae of the butterfly Leptotes trigemmatus, and could transform the desert into an agro-sylvo-pastoral ecosystem.
Who?
Plantation established under the Allende government in 1970, by the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), a Chilean government organization responsible for the development of national industry.
Oops!
Domesticated animals trample the soil and feed on the vegetation.

Halakau Forest National Wildlife Refuge: creating biodiversity sanctuaries

What is it?
The first National wildlife refuge to use native trees to reforest abandoned pasture lands in Hawaii.
Why?
To restore, protect, and conserve, the unique biodiversity of this native rainforest; through fencing, removal of invasive non-native feral ungulates and weedy plants, reforestation, and reintroduction of endangered native plant species.
Here is a reuniting, 20 years in the making. So few endangered Clermontia Lindseyana (Obawai) remain that the i’iwi, its only natural pollinator, had forgotten that they were an important food source!
Who?
Jim Kraus, Refuge manager, Jack Jeffrey, retired refuge biologist (jackjeffreyphoto.com), and the National Wildlife Refuge System (www.fws.gov/hakalauforest).

© Dean Thompson, Lorna Pitt
Algoma Highlands, a sanctuary for plants and animals

Algoma Highlands Conservancy: linking sustainable forestry and forest preservation

What is it?
A binational, non-profit group, owning 1215ha of conservation forest in northern Ontario.
This area, of incredible natural beauty, is a sanctuary for plant and animal species, including several which are rare or endangered, and others that are iconic of the northern Canadian wilderness.
Why?
To insure protection of the ecological integrity of these lands, thus supporting and demonstrating core values of conservation, environmental education, silent sport recreation, and sustainable forestry.
Who?
A group of like-minded individuals who voluntarily contribute their time, energy and skills, supported by contributions from a large grass roots group of Canadians and Americans, and supporting agencies. www.algomahighlandsconservancy.org

Montreal's tree policy: protecting urban trees

What is it?
A policy that stipulates, among other guidelines, "that new planting holes should ideally contain a minimum volume of 5m³ of soil…"
Why?
A study conducted in the middle 90s showed that the life expectancy of trees in downtown Montreal was barely 5 years.
The volume of soil provided to trees was identified as an important aspect to consider.
Along certain arteries in downtown Montreal, tree holes have been improved accordingly.
Who?
This project was directed by Michel Labrecque of the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (Plant Biology Research Institute).
Oops!
Much work remains to be done. Urban trees are still subjected to a multitude of stresses: drought, heat, pollution, excessive pruning.

Living walls: integrating trees in urban development

What is it?
Living walls, made of willow stems, are used to block noise pollution.
Why?
Classic cement soundwalls diminish traffic noise but are unattractive.
Living walls are also efficient, much more beautiful, graffiti-free, and absorb CO₂ (a greenhouse gas).
Who?
Michel Labrecque and his team from the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (Plant Biology Research Institute) were the first to experiment with this technology in Quebec.
Subsequently, several kilometers of these living walls have been installed along highways in the Montreal area.

New approaches to logging in Quebec: better forest management

What is it?
Using different harvesting methods (partial harvesting, variable retention harvesting, etc.) as a function of the type of forest, rather than systematic clear-cutting and monoculture planting.
Why?
In order to manage the forest while attempting to imitate natural disturbances. The harvesting method chosen for a given forest depends on its ecosystem type: this is ecosystemic management.
Who?
Several researchers from the Centre for Forest Research are in the process of implanting ecosystemic management in Quebec.

© Contact
Contact, a solidarity cooperative

Reuniting Trees and Humans: reponsible forestry, on a local scale

What is it?
A Quebec laboratory devoted to sustainable development.
Why?
To demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile quality of life and responsible behavior.
To reconstruct our link to the forest ecosystem, which has always been a source of food and shelter.
And to develop approaches to exploitation and transformation of forest resources that meet our needs, while preserving ecosystem dynamics.
How?
By creating a structure that links research and development with the production and transfer of knowledge and technology, while operating with the utmost respect for the principles of sustainable development.
Who?
Contact, a solidarity cooperative: www.contactfutur.com

Intercropping: incorporating trees on industrial agricultural land

What is it?
Integrating trees in agricultural fields. This is agroforestry, a combination of forestry and agriculture.
Why?
To take advantage of trees in agricultural areas and attain environmental, economic and social objectives.
To improve water quality and soil productivity.
And to diversify the landscape, ecological niches and agricultural products.
Who?
David Rivest, Alain Cogliastro, Robert Bradley and Alain Olivier introduced intercropping parcels in southern Quebec. It's a collaborative effort between the Universities of Laval, Sherbrooke and Montreal, and the Montreal Botanical Garden.