Having just missed the infrequent bus to my village yesterday, I started the 35-minute walk home along the road.But what's this?!
Almost all the trees, albeit dead trees, along the right side of the road had been cut down!
.
Then I saw the sign:CAUTION !
KKL [Keren Kayemet LeYisrael] is thinning out the forest in this area
in order to create firebreaks and to keep the forest healthy.
You can call us at 02-6204672.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
KKL, Mountain Region
.
Carefully I looked over the steep and now bare slope.Down below, a man was attaching a rope or chain to the log so he could skid it out with the tractor. (Click on the photo to find him.)
Others were cutting down tall pines, sawing them up into smaller lengths, stacking them and getting them ready to load on trailers, boiling a pot of coffee . . . .
I felt a tinge of envy . . . .
Last July a forest fire killed these trees in the valley..
That's my moshav (village) in the photo.
The only road out of our village was closed, with fires burning on both sides of the road.
The fire was stopped at the very gate of our village, thank God.
It was a scary time watching the flames come nearer.
There was no way for the fire trucks to get down into the valley, and the few small planes could not work fast enough.
.
That is why I am so glad that the wake-up call is being heeded now.
Keren Kayemet-Jewish National Fund is on the job, bless them.
.
And I did, I called the telephone number on the sign, and said a big thank-you.
Even got to speak to the head Forester of the Mountain Region, Eli Yaakov.
He said "Before new trees can grow, the burnt ones must be cut down."
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Let us hope and pray the new trees will never feel the pain of a forest fire.
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It's got to be done.Death brings forth new life.
ReplyDeleteI really hope this summer will be forest fire -free in your area and elsewhere here too!
ReplyDeleteSo good! We pray that there should be no more forest fires in Israel. By the way, it looks like a job for my SpiderDan, if we move down when we get a little older.
ReplyDeleteWe had a big forest fire here a few years ago.. it ruined a very large area, but fortunately we have a lot of forest.
Blessed week to you:-)
Been surrounded twice by fires, it is very scary! They do a good and important job.
ReplyDeleteSent you an invite on Facebook, btw. Would be very glad if you accept it.
Interesting post. It is so scary with forest fires, what luck they could stop it in time.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice week :)
Oh, that was too close for comfort, Dina! This dead tree-cutting is an important project, especially since it will you safer.
ReplyDeleteMy father would wonder if they could cut the trees into useable wood boards for woodworking projects!
ReplyDeleteI hope that keeps your forest fires away. I can only imagine how scary it must be to have a fire at the gates of your village. We seem to get bad forst fires every summer here in California, but I live far away from where they've been.
ReplyDeleteMakes one feel summer even much more. With temperature on the rise over here as well, thoughts indeed travel.
ReplyDeleteWishing you all a safe beginning of the season.
I remember many forest fires in the area where I grew up, in British Columbia, but I've never been in the position you were in, surrounded by fire and unable to get out. How dreadful for you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing the dead trees are being removed. New life will be born in their place.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
It is a good thig they learned the lesson and are trying hard to avoid another catastrophe!
ReplyDeleteI really hope that your prayer will result in a safe forest with beautiful new trees.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the visit to "the Wizard of Christchurch. I am afraid that I don't know what his message is. He preached against the Anglican church, I think.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the top pic I was suprised by the title of the post as a torn down tree is always heartbreaking but then I realized why they were doing it. Let's hope there is not much fire devastation in both our countries this summer and anywhere else, of course!
ReplyDeleteWe are collecting logs ready for our new multi-fuel cooker/boiler! Maybes we could pop over in the van! lol! Great post. Dxx
ReplyDeleteLiving things cut down because there might be a forest fire? I would think they would thin out the underbrush and leave the trees growing.
ReplyDeleteFriends, thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHaving said what I said yesterday, today I drove by where the workers are thinning (it's more like clearcutting!) the forest. Seeing the bare side of the hill gave a big pinch to my heart. Not pretty, yet . . .
I will try to find out what KKL does with the wood.
Abe, it is hard to see in these pictures, but the tree bark is all black and charred and likewise the crowns. The cross section looks like the trunk is OK inside, but there has been no regeneration of greenery since July (except for the few olive trees), so I guess they are dead.
I hope there will be soon a new wood with beautiful trees.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good thing. Jon says they can smell the wildfires in Arizona from New Mexico. The week after he returned to NM from Yellowstone, they closed the road he passed through because of the fires. This is a weird time on our earth.
ReplyDeleteamen
ReplyDeleteI remember your post about the fire, glad they are on top of it so that the Hills of Jerusalem can be verdant once again.
ReplyDelete