"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
Introductions are a matter of great debate here too, but nowhere near the
problem they are in Australia. The flora and fauna in Europe are pretty
tough so that most invaders have a hard time of it.

Nevertheless from time tot time gardening centers have to be forbidden
from selling yet another cute pond plant or animal when this goes out of
control, being dumped in the wild by garden owners and then running amok.

At one point there was also debate on having the forests here producing
more wood so as to limit wood imports, but the only trees to produce
(relatively) high quality woods are 'exotics' such as Pseudotsuga and
Robinia. Nowadays all the useful trees are weeded out of the forests as
'exotics' and forest owners are going out of business.

Martin Rand schreef
I don't know how it is in the Netherlands, but in Britain forest
owners are going out of business (when they are) because of the low
price of softwoods. Who's doing all that 'weeding' so as to bankrupt
these forest owners? Also I don't know what your definition of 'high
quality' is, but the cost of beech or oak furniture says something.
Over here Robinia isn't much grown, but (for instance) a lot of the
Douglas Fir from north and mid Wales seems to end up in the chipboard
factory at Y Waun - not my idea of high quality.

+ + +
Well, obviously Douglas from the Netherlands is not in the same league as
old growth Oregon pine, but it is high quality compared to 'native' Pinus
sylvestris.

That forest owners are going out of business has multiple reasons but not
growing relatively high-quality woods is certainly not helping.

A fair proportion of softwoods grown in the Netherlands is indeed used as
saw wood.

BTW: Elsewhere in the world some of the finest hardwoods in existence
(actually irreplacable) are stuffed into pulp-producing machines, so the
fact that Wales chips up the local trees does not necessarily say anything
about their quality
+ + +

On the other hand rabbits (introduced by the Romans) are now somewhat
protected, mostly since hunters like to shoot at them.

+ + +
The Netherlands are a more unusual country than I thought. A place where
the rabbits need protecting in order to give the hunters enough to shoot at!
What form does this 'somewhat' protection take, by the way?
Martin (off-duty)
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire

+ + +
Whenever a disease bring back rabbit populations to sufferable proportions
hunters start a management program to raise numbers. Other 'nature
management' programs include raising pheasants in cages (as pets) and them
introducing them into nature a day or two before a shooting party of hunters
passes by.
PvR

Sorry, slip

Whenever a disease bring back rabbit populations to sufferable proportions
hunters start a management program to raise numbers. Other 'nature
management' programs include raising pheasants in cages (as POULTRY) and
them introducing them into nature a day or two before a shooting party of
hunters passes by.
PvR

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 18:27:36 GMT, "P van Rijckevorsel"
wrote:

[snip]


That forest owners are going out of business has multiple reasons but not
growing relatively high-quality woods is certainly not helping.

A fair proportion of softwoods grown in the Netherlands is indeed used as
saw wood.

BTW: Elsewhere in the world some of the finest hardwoods in existence
(actually irreplacable) are stuffed into pulp-producing machines, so the
fact that Wales chips up the local trees does not necessarily say anything
about their quality
+ + +

I think all that says is that the economics of these things varies
around the world. In Britain, native hardwoods are not finding their
way into pulp or chipboard; planted alien softwoods are. (I realize
this also has something to do with how 'hard' the hardwood is.) I was
merely worried that you were suggesting Douglas Fir and False Acacia
planations were 'high quality' in comparison with the native
hardwoods, and making an argument for replacing one with the other.
And I realize that as an economic proposition, the Oak that takes
120-150 years to realize its highest market value has an uphill
struggle against a crop requiring 30-50.

[snip]

Whenever a disease bring back rabbit populations to sufferable proportions
hunters start a management program to raise numbers.

I don't think rabbit shooting / ferreting is really thought of as much
of a 'sport' over here, so perhaps there isn't the same impetus; in
any case - let alone the necessity...

Other 'nature
management' programs include raising pheasants in cages (as pets) and them
introducing them into nature a day or two before a shooting party of hunters
passes by.

Same here, in spades - although I don't think any of those responsible
would have the gall to call it 'nature management'.


--
Martin (off-duty)
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire

Martin Rand schreef
(I realize this also has something to do with how 'hard' the hardwood is.)

+ + +
I am not sure that there is a connection between hardness and pulpability.
They can do a lot with chemicals these days.

In a rational world hard woods could be used for better purposes than pulp.
Quite often hard woods are durable woods
+ + +

I was
merely worried that you were suggesting Douglas Fir and False Acacia
planations were 'high quality' in comparison with the native
hardwoods, and making an argument for replacing one with the other.

+ + +
Actually there is a foundation here which does advocate planting Robinia on
a large scale. This actually did happen on a large scale in Hungary, which
BTW has a more suitable climate for this species.
+ + +

And I realize that as an economic proposition, the Oak that takes
120-150 years to realize its highest market value has an uphill
struggle against a crop requiring 30-50.
Martin (off-duty)
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire

+ + +
The long cycle of oak is indeed a big problem from a economic/financial
point of view. In more and more parts of the world there are now tree crops
with a cycle of less than 10 years.
PvR