Hopea odorata Roxb. var. odorata, known locally as ตะเคียน Takien is a member of the family Dipterocarpaceae .

Seed production of some species in the Dipterocarp family can vary greatly between years and a year where large number of trees produce many seed is known as a mast year.

The year 2011  was a mast year for Hopea in Chiang Mai and the Huey Keow Arboretum nursery is growing young trees from locally collected seed.

Ten kilometres to the north at Huey Teng Tao there is a stream with two old Hopea trees. In the past five years I can recall seeing neither seed nor seedlings from these trees despite the fact the environment is suitable for growing Hopeas, until that is, fire comes along.  Hopeas have been successfully grown along two of the streams leading into the dam at Huey Teng Tao with Gum Hak Doi Suthep planting nursery raised trees and also seed directly into the moist earth along the stream.

The picture, taken 3rd September 2011, shows young Hopeas growing in the moisture along the stream edges.

Many seedlings were also observed up the slope and a little upstream from the parent tree. Only two old trees from the original Hopea dominated gallery forest remain and apart from this years extraordinary recruitment no other Hopeas are to be found. Of the number which had been planted in recent years and grown well, all were killed by fire in 2010.

Fire is not the only threat to the forest here. Both the remaining old Hopeas now face death from the construction of check dams, by Rotary International of Chiang Mai, which have caused massive erosion .

Urgent work is required to demolish these dams and place stones and sand around the roots of the old trees. This requires that the concrete be manually broken with hammers and extreme  care taken ensure Hopea seedlings are not trampled or buried.

The lesson here and also from elswhere in the Doi Suthep-Pui national Park is that check dams do not produce the claimed benefits to the environment. Rather they create erosion, disrupt the natural stream ecology of invertebrates travelling along the stream and divert money and a great deal of well intentioned effort from useful work such as weed control.

At the beginning of August many seedlings were seen growing in sand washed down from upstream.

These have now vanished beneath a new layer of sand washed down in the latest storms and the volume of sand is high because erosion continues unabated around the check dams.

This picture on the left was taken in May when hundreds of seedlings were observed.

Also growing here is Mikania micranthra or Mile-A-Minute. This rampant weed needs to be controlled to prevent destruction of young trees.

The area shown in these photos is of special significance for the study of forest regeneration in Chiang Mai.

As the land is managed by the Thai Army it is to be hoped that the management cooperate with Rotary International, CMU researchers and community volunteers to cordon off this area from destructive trampling, remove the dams, prevent fire and control weeds. We may then have a true Ecotourism site worthy of visiting by people birds and forest animals.

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park is noted for its floral diversity but due to forest degredation and the delimitation of its boundaries at least two forest communities would be properly included in the park are in practice absent.

One is the lowland riverine forest community characterised by dominant trees notably Hopea odorata, Aphanamixis polystachya, Toona ciliata, Holoptelea integrafolia, Celtis spp., Salix tetrasperma, Eugenia formosa,,Terminalia bellirica, Dipterocarpus turbinatus, Ficus callosa, Drypetes roxburghii and Cleidon spiciflorum. Fragmented remnants of this community, mostly as old trees exist in the park at Mae Hia Nai.

Fragments of a second riparian plant community can be found just outside the park boundary south of the Mok Fah Waterfall in Mae Daeng District. There two species not found in the park have been identified.

One is Pometia pinnata and is shown inthe photo here. Just remember the P sign is not for parking but for Pometia. These trees were raised from seedlings collected from the Huey Rong Waterfall in Phrae and Gum Hak Doi Suthep has had them planted at Huey Teng Tao, Mae Sa Waterfall, Mok Fah Waterfall and here at Montatarn Waterfall.

This Tuesday from 4.00 pm we plan to plant seedlings we raised of Chisocheton siamensis at Montatarn Waterfall and do some weed control to encourage natural regeneration of trees from the surrounding forest.

Some recently planted trees in this area include Teak (Tectona grandis) and Rain Trees (Samanea saman), neither of which are native in the moist forest of  Doi Suthep and the Rain Tree being from America.

We can suggest to the park management that these trees be removed.

ASEAN Senior Forestry Officials Conference

4-8 July 2011
9 am-5 pm daily @ Le Meridien Hotel, Chiang Mai Thailand
Open to the public 4-6 July

Days 1 & 2 have 2 concurrent discussions

Day 3 -  July 6th

Picture a churchyard. What do you see? Where I come from churchyards generally come round pretty ancient and atmospheric. Dark, wet, stone and slate, ivy and thick green moss smothering the crumbling gravestones, all brooding in the shadow of holly and cypress trees; always a place in which you cannot separate the building, from the natural world;

Well, here in Northern Thailand, you’d be hard pressed to find a church to fit this stereotype. The Acts of Compassion Church in Pa Daet couldn’t be more unlike this image; a modern structure of steel and concrete with an out-door eating area and a football pitch, all set within earshot of the busy Hangdong Road.

But, they’ve got the right idea about nature, and have teamed up with the students of Lanna International School and Gum Hak Doi Suthep to begin to create a more healthy natural environment.

On thefirst Friday in June  a group of seven volunteers planted trees to cover an area of over one rai. The area is at the back of the church and the group were able to plant over thirty trees, which will, in a few years, create an area of unbroken shade that will help to keep the whole place cool. The trees were of about twelve different species, all were locally sourced and, more importantly, all were species that grow naturally in the forests of Northern Thailand. The students were very proud of their work –which was hot and tiring- and wanted to offer their planting services to anyone who, like the Acts Church, is ecologically progressive.

Anyone interested should contact the author Dave Arthurs – davidarthurs@lannaist.ac.th.

Readers who like to visit Huey Teng Tao with its ornamental dam 12 km north of Chiang Mai along te Irrigation Canal Rd may not have seen recent destruction of forest there.

In January an area of young forest which had been planted over a period of 4 years by various school groups was bulldozed in order to make a car park for a 3 day music event.

As a result many trees died but a good number have resprouted and are now being swamped with weed growth.

Students from CMU Engineering faculty have been asked to come and help hand weed the small Mimosa and other American weeds and all comers are welcome. Please bring gardening gloves, drinking water and a sickle if possible.

Enquiries : Ricky  0849859668

With the early rains this year May 2011 is a lovely time for tree planting.

This week from 10th May we plan daily tree planting from 1 pm each day

beside the walking path along the Mae Kha Canal south of Sri Donchai Road.

The area was formerly landscaped during the Thaksin era with shelters, seats, historical  murals and trees were planted for the 400 metre length of the path. Only one tree remains and local folk report the only maintenance work done by the Nakhorn Chiang Mai municipality has been dredging by a great machine which has destroyed many trees.

Two days of planting have seen over 20 new trees planted and a lot of digging out of weeds. Please join us if you have time on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday and call to let us know on  0849859668 .

So often “Exclusive” accomodation is surrounded by high concrete walls.

The recent Punna development however in Chiang Mai’s Nimmanhaemin Soi 6 has taken a different approach:

How do they achieve this attractive result and what about Secutiry you might ask.  Well as they say the devil is in the detail (see below). All that greenery hides otherwise unsightly barbed wire and so is certainly cow proof and also burglar un-friendly.  What is more it is “Low Carbon” with minimal use of concrete.

Should the City publish this as a preferred style of fencing and require a permit with public consultation for more Carbon structures?

Many readers will know better thanthe author that the forests of SE Asia and all that comprise them from the bacteria, in the ground, to the plants and animals from tiny to giant size remain under threat, with many species still becoming extinct.

The International Year of the Forests gives those of us who care, a platform to advance nature conservation and for purposes of promotion nothing comes near a charismatic animal, like a beautiful Tiger or the Giant Panda for attracting sympathetic attention.

Usually cuddly, furry animals are best even if they are potential man eaters but the hard skinned Pangolin is very attractive in the way it moves and eats. Pangolin toys are also quite a hit with children it seems. And the sad plight of the Pangolin resulting from forest clearing and the so-called medicinal properties, which I guess are no more than  superstition, highlights the destruction of the forest in general. The lesson may be – if we save the Pangolin  - we save the forest.

I would hope the ASEAN countries, very much once a Pangolin land, could give a lead and I think that rather than dry scientific argument, or even photographs of Pangolins, presenting a lively cartoon character, which speaks the languages of people will be immediately attractive. It can be a way of having children persuade their elders to keep the animal’s habitat and reject the so-called traditional remedies from Pangolin skins to Bear bile.

So it seems to me we need some talented people who work in animation to do a short animation of a Pangolin character to present th idea and we need to find volunteers to work quickly.

I personally do not have any contacts in this field nor do I directly work on animal conservation but I thought some of your supporters would have the skills needed and might be prepared to volunteer.

We would also need some organisation which has established international and government links to notionally  the project. Perhaps the IUCN or WWF? I suspect readers might have ideas about this.

In a sense the Year of the Forest is like the Global Warming issue. Forest conservation is crucial to almost every individual conservation issue and a failure there means a failure every where. The lesson I draw is that, just as we all must set aside some of our work time to work to combat global warming,  so must we in this year work on forest conservation.

The matter of finance also is relevant as some money may be needed initially to seed the project until it, hopefully, gets ASEAN & UN sponsorship. you may have ideas about this. One thought is that companies which make toy Pangolins could very well be interested.

Please pass these thoughts around among your contacts and let us see if we can get some action.

Suggestions for a scenario:

I suggest it would be great to get a cartoon made with a pandolin being asked questions like “What is a forest?” etc. Answer My Home if you don’t mind!

If he is a Thai he could be called Panlop the Pandolin ( I have a friend Panlop). He could put trees into perspective: “The deader the better – so yummy termites can eat them”

Living trees – “Well ok…  They give nice shade and conserve moisture – and without moisture
my favourite food (yes termites) cannot survive – and they (the trees) must die some time and provide more termite food.”
“So yes let’s have more trees”  .. and bamboo!!

And why do you matter Mr Panlop ?
“Well the more termites I eat, the less methane the termites give off and as you may well know methane is 25 times as powerful a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide”.

So Cool the World – Keep the Pandolins.