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Douglas & rabbits [was: Coconuts & Oz / seeds]
"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 |
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