Unit #4
FOREST
• Forests are extensive, continuous areas of land dominated by
trees. The desired level of forests is 20-30 percent of the total
area of a country. In Pakistan only about 4.8 % of the total
area is forested.
• Two types of forests.
• Productive Forest
It has great commercial value and mainly used for extraction of timber and
other products.
. Protection Forest
Forest protection is a branch of forestry which is
concerned with the preservation or improvement of a forest and
prevention and control of damage to forest by natural or man
made causes like forest fires, plant pests, and adverse climatic
conditions (global warming). ... Pollution of the forest soil. They
are mainly planted in linear position.
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST
TYPES OF FORESTS
ALPINE FOREST
. Alpine forests are found in
a limited area in Chitral, Dir,
Swat, and Gilgit.
. They normally have upward
branches to attain more
sunlight.
. They are used as fuel wood
only.
. In the region of high
mountains there is snow, so
little or no vegetation is
found here.
.
FOREST
. It is conical in shape. Coniferous forest,
vegetation composed primarily of
cone-bearing needle-leaved or scale-
leaved evergreen trees, found in
areas that have long winters and
moderate to high annual
precipitation.
. The coniferous forests occur from
1,000 to 4,000 m altitudes. Chitral,
Swat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir,
Malakand, Mansehra and Abbottabad
districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Azad Kashmir and Rawalpindi district
of the Punjab are the main areas
covered with coniferous forests.
.
TROPICAL
THORN
FOREST
(RAKH)
. The Thorn Forests and Scrub
thorny forest is a dense, scrub-
like vegetation characteristic of
dry subtropical and warm
temperate areas with a seasonal
rainfall averaging 250 to 500
mm.
. It’s height is 6 to 10 meters.
. Scanty vegetation due to water
shortage.
SUB-TROPICAL SCRUB
FOREST
. Sub-Tropical Scrub Forest:
Commonly these are known as scrub
forests.
. These forest consist of branchy trees
forming a canopy if complete closure or
scattered trees with a shrub growth.
. These trees and shrubs are mostly
thorny and evergreen, but some ,like
olive and pomegranate are not thorny.
. They are found in the Attock,
Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Jhelum and
Gujrat districts of the Punjab, and in the
Mansehra, Abbottabad, Mardan,
Peshawar and Kohat districts of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa up to a height of 1,000 m.
RIVERAIN OR BELA
FOREST
. The present study was
carried out in the Bela
forest of District Jhelum
(Punjab).
. The major tree species in
the Bela plantation were
Eucalyptus.
. The original vegetation
consists mostly of
Shisham , Kikar, Babul
etc.
. It is in linear position.
MANGROVE FORESTS
. Pakistan has 0.6 million
hectaresof mangrove ecosyste
m.
. They are distributed along the
coast of Sindh and Baluchistan.
The largest concentration,
approximately 95%, is found in
Sindh Province.
. It’s general height is 3 meters
but in water areas 6-8 meters.
. It has broad leaves but grow
on tidal mud and survive in
salty water.
IRRIGATED FOREST
. The irrigated plantations
were first developed in 1866 at
Changa Manga in Lahore.
. Today they occupy about
226,000 Sheesham (Dalbergia
sissoo), mulberry/Shahtoot
(Morus alba), babul (Acacia
nilotica) and species of
Eucalyptus and Populus are the
common tree species grown in
the irrigated plantations.
. Important source of timber,
firewood and it planted in
linear form and provide shade.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATED PLANTS
ADVANTAGES
. Source of timber
. Provide shade shelter and food
. Scenic beauty
. Fertility of soil
DISADVANTAGES
. High investment
. Need irrigation
. Illegal cutting of trees
MANGROVE FOREST
• Mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline
or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal
vegetation consisting of such species.
CHARACTERISTICS
. Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and
are adapted to life in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a
complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope
with salt water immersion and wave action. They are adapted
to the low oxygen conditions of waterlogged mud.
REASONS FOR DESTROYING
• . Firewood. Sea water pollution
. Removal of sand
. Construction of building and roads
DEFORESTATION OF PAKISTAN
• Pakistan faces immense problems of deforestation and forest
degradation. Less than five percent of its total area is under forests. The
rate of deforestation of 1.5% is very high and alarming.
• The most adverse impacts of deforestation in Pakistan are flooding,
climatic changes, land sliding, land degradation, soil erosion and
desertification.
• The causes of deforestation
• Natural causes as hurricanes, fires, parasites and floods.
• Human activities as agricultural expansion, cattle breeding, timber
extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam construction and infrastructure
development.
• substitution of forest areas with cultivations and breeding
• timber extraction
• firewood collection
• road and infrastrucutre construction
SOLUTION TO DEFORESTATION
• Supplying irrigation facilities
• Commercial species of trees should be planted
• Reserving land
• Afforestation
• Products of plants should increased
• Improving techniques/ Modern
• Proper management e:g Using of bulldozers,illegal cutting etc
• Creating awareness
TERRACING
.
Terracing is a sloping piece of land that has had flat areas like
steps built on it, for example so that people can grow crops there.
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
• Sustainable" means to maintain, continue, and keep, while
"forestry" is the science and art of managing forests. Thus,
sustainable forestry is about caring for and managing
forests to provide the natural resources, such as wood and
clean water, we need now and in the future.
• Sustainable forestry seeks to balance our need for forest-
based resources and economic benefits with the long-term
health of the forest. Instead of harvesting a whole area,
sustainable forestry manages a forest, extracting some
resources while maintaining the forest's long-term health.
