History of the plantations

In 1987 the IUCN at the request of Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) initiated a pilot program to improve and expand sustainable village tree plantations. Since 1991 AKRSP took an active role in promoting and funding afforestation projects in the program area. Seedlings from nurseries run by AKRSP were freely distributed to farmers to plant them on their land in places they think best. Only some were planted in block plantations. Since 1996 the effort has been increased to plant seedlings in major blocks on mostly reclaimed land by helping the Village Organizations to construct an irrigation channel.
With these major block plantations AKRSP hopes to fight the cutting down of the last natural pine trees in the upper valleys. Since a lot of politicians and other very influential people are involved in timber business it might have little effect on that issue, but at least the villagers will have the possibility to supply their own needs for timber and firewood in the future.
Nowadays the villagers get the young plants from nurseries for the subsidized price of Rs.1 instead of the real cost of Rs.3 per tree. For each planted tree they are given however another Rs.5 to use on the construction of the necessary irrigation channel.
Until now, AKRSP is not equipped with any map showing the locations of these major block plantations. Also even the most basic information about these plantations are not centrally accessible and manageable but in most cases only with a single forester of the affected local Field Management Units (FMU).

 

Definitions

A major block plantation is a plantation of usually more than 10.000 forest plants from AKRSP nurseries (such as local poplar, robinia, willow, russian-olive, ailenthus, blue-pine, quetta-pine, deodar etc.) planted compactly within a certain limited, in most cases especially for afforestation reclaimed area.

The meaning of the details in my standardized questionnaire is following:

NAME OF SITE: name of the afforestation project (mostly combined with the name of the involved village)

FMU: location of the responsible FMU-office

ID: identification number in order of my visits to be able to attach them to a computerized map

PROJECT START: year in which the first trees where planted by AKRSP

GEOGRAPHIC POS: LATITUDE __° __' __" and LONGITUDE __° __' __" the geographic coordinates of one point if possible the center of the plantation to the accuracy of one second (1/ 3600 degree) which corresponds with about 25 meters in the region of Gilgit. ALTITUDE _________ meters above sea level, position in plantation (lowest point, center, highest point) should be indicated

TREES: total number in round figure, (by which year) and sorts of planted trees

USAGE BEFORE: basic ecological information about the situation before the afforestation took place

INTERCROPPING: is any intercropping with alfalfa taking place

FREE GRAZING : are there any plants injured by grazing livestock

REMARKS: any further information (problems experienced, is a watchman employed, in what condition is the plantation, are the trees planted in the right intervals, are there any naturally growing plants at or around the site ...)

 

Number and accuracy of visited sites

During my internship I was able to visit 33 out of about 40 major block plantations initiated by the AKRSP Regional Office Gilgit.
I was not able to visit the Bar Plantation located in the area covered by FMU Nagar, due to snow covering the valley and blocking the road. The same applies to the sites of Theru and Thui located in the area of FMU Gupis. There are two major block plantations in the valley of Misgar in the boundaries of FMU Hunza, but this valley is closed to foreigners. The forester of FMU Astore claims that there are another three major block plantations in his district, but I ran out of time to visit these sites, too.
The raised data is based on my own observations and the answers of the responsible foresters of the related FMU-offices and sometimes involved villagers. However I did not fully access the sites of Hathun and Jalalabad. Both sites are riverside plantations which I mapped from an adjacent higher river terrace.
Latitude, longitude, and altitude should be exact to about 50 meters. Getting the altitude of the site of Golo Dass and the coordinates of the sites of Gulmat and Chira Paeen Bagrot was for some reasons more problematic and they might be exact to only 100 meters.
I took the numbers of planted trees from different sources of papers belonging to the foresters of the FMU-offices. Some of these papers rely on secondary aggregated data. The trees have not been counted since they have been planted and sometimes not all of these trees have been planted in a block. So I rounded the figures which should not be taken too exact.

  

Interpretation of raised field data

Even though AKRSP is until now not equipped with an installed Geographic Information System (GIS), there is some interpretation possible from the raised data of the 33 major block plantations alone. The most important data we are missing is climatic and ecological. There were limited possibilities for me to find out about the soil fertility and the duration of the vegetation period of these sites.

The problem of free grazing:

Free grazing is the main problem of about 25% of all the major block plantations I was able to visit. Young trees are severely, often fatally damaged by grazing livestock. Therefore a firm agreement on how to tackle this problem with the Village Organizations seems to me a necessity before establishing any further plantation.
There are different possibilities to protect a block plantation from grazing livestock, especially from goats:

• One is the erection of a strong enclosure. Traditionally this is done by setting up an about half a meter high loose stonewall attaching thorny twigs of seabuckthorn (growing abundant at most sites) on top of it.


• The sites of Aliabad Taltaq Dass, Chira Paeen Bagrot, Jalalabad Riverbed Plantation and Passu Plantation demonstrate that an employed watchman paid by the community (earning from Rs.250 to Rs.1000 per month) during the first and most critical years until the trees are tall enough is another very useful measure in areas which proved to be problematical, such as the valley of Chalt and the Riverbed Plantations of Gilgit and Hunza River. Recent discussions of paying villagers in Aliabad Taltaq Dass and the history of the site of Barkulti Paeen Yasin demonstrate that often the Village Organizations don't like to pay for such a protection. In Barkulti Paeen the real estate donated by the local Mir to the community has been recently distributed to the individual households, a step which resulted in the dismissal of the watchman and neglecting of vast patches of the afforestation. Now free grazing became a big problem at this site. In my opinion, it is very important for the success of a major block plantation in most areas to reach a binding agreement on employing and keeping a watchman in the first years to control free grazing before any trees are actually planted.


• If this proves impossible, there are certain other traditional measures to protect the young trees nevertheless. One is to plant always three or four trees at the same spot to assure that one will survive grazing because of the inner bark being protected. Such is the case in Sultanabad Yasin, Aliabad Taltaq Dass). This measure increases the competition among the trees resulting in poor growth.
  Nowadays the villagers have to participate themselves with Rs.1 per tree raised in a nursery (it cost about Rs.3 to raise it). So if they plant for example 30.000 trees with always three on one spot, about 20.000 won't survive or grow well. For the money of these 20.000 trees they could have employed a watchman for at least one and a half years as warranty against free grazing and save time and manpower of planting two extra trees. For AKRSP these 20.000 trees mean an amount of about Rs.40.000 which could employ the watchman at least for another three years and it would save space in their nurseries. This very generalized calculation should demonstrate that securing young trees in a block plantation of a certain size from free grazing in problematic areas by engaging a watchman does not necessarily lead to extra costs for the villagers and for AKRSP. The wage of a watchman is also quite flexible from Rs.400 per month (Jalalabad Riverbed Plantation) to Rs.1000 per month (Aliabad Taltaq Dass) depending on the size of the plantation.
  If the seedlings are however planted in the above mentioned way, these three trees should be of different species, so that there will be as little competition for light , water and nutritive substances between them as possible, assuming that they all survive. This method is applied at the site of Sultanabad Yasin. If a Village Organization decides to appoint a watchman, it should be stressed to the villagers that now there is no more need for planting three trees in the same spot. Such useless double-protection is applied in sites of Aliabad Taltaq Dass and Chira Paeen Bagrot.


• Another traditional measure to protect trees against livestock is to wrap up the trunk of each single tree with cloth (old clothes) or twigs of seabuckthorn until a height of about two meters. At the site of Hanuchal Haramosh the bark is protected by covering it with mud. These methods involve a lot of labor but are efficient with trees along the roadside.


• "Social fencing" in areas which experience free grazing, as it is practiced for example at the site of Ahmedabad, should be only an emergency measure when the other methods don't work, since it involves pressure on individuals and in the end might lead towards antipathy against the plantation. In Thole Dass the villagers pointed out that "social fencing" does not work because the goats belong to their neighboring village.


• Upper Hunza in general is not experiencing problems with free grazing. People at the sites of the Ghalapan Plantations and Moorkhon General Plantation exercise a different "social fencing". Each day, another person of the village collects all of the livestock and shepherds them.
 

 

Planting "sets":

Before the establishment of the AKRSP nurseries the villagers used to plant local poplars by cutting branches of older trees and planting these. This is a cheap and convenient method, since branches are freely available and only a very narrow hole must be dug in the stony ground. It is referred as "stick-plantation" or planting as "sets".
In the nurseries selected "plus trees" are raised because some of the old trees are sick and one cannot establish a major block plantation of some 10.000 trees by merely cutting branches of existing trees. These young trees have a small root for which a slightly bigger hole must be dug to plant them properly.
At the sites of Gindai Yasin (in 1992) and Shutin Dass (in 1996) the poplars have been however planted as "sets". These trees are now growing slower than poplars of the same age in other block plantations planted with roots.
Along the road from Gakuch to Gupis we saw a farmer sitting at the side of the road cutting the roots from the young trees he just obtained from an AKRSP nursery. He was explaining to us that he had always planted poplars as sticks, because it is easier this way and takes less time.
This incident demonstrates the persistent need to inform the villagers who plant the trees that planting as "sets" results in a slowed down growth of these trees as can be observed and proved in the above mentioned major block plantations.


 

Utilization of seabuckthorn

Seabuckthorn is a naturally growing shrub at the sites of Bar Jungle Imit, Hathun, Gindai Yasin, Gutomas, Thing Dass, Gulmat, Chamalling, Ahmedabad, Aliabad Taltaq Dass, Jutal Paeen, Thole Dass, Jalalabad Riverbed Plantation, Ayeenabad Gojal, Passu Plantation, Moorkhon Plantation and Nasirabad. So far the villagers only use the thorny twigs to protect the bark of young trees, to fence in plantations or as firewood.
In Laddakh and in China however also the orange fruits of seabuckthorn which they call Tsestalulu are harvested. In small plants they produce a very healthy juice and in China even jam out of the fruits, which are very rich in vitamin C.
I have been told that at one time AKRSP was in contact with such a Chinese enterprise, and I can only encourage such a step towards utilizing this natural resource of the Northern Areas.


 

Major block plantations of certain environments

stony slope: All of these plantations were initiated with the construction or widening of an irrigation channel. In some cases (Chira Paeen Bagrot, Aliabad Taltaq Dass, Hanuchal Haramosh) little terraces have been built. In other sites trees were planted in contour-trenches (Barkulti Par Yasin, Chira Paeen Bagrot, Nasirabad). Both measures stabilize the slope against erosion and help organic matter to accumulate and improve the soil fertility.
barren stony riverbed: Plantations in previously barren stony riverbeds are rich in naturally growing seabuckthorn and other medical shrubs.
barren sandy riverbed: These sites which are hot and dry in summer in combination with a high surface of water seem to be more suitable for robinia than for poplars. Riverbeds are somehow more effected by free grazing (Bar Jungle Imit, Barkulti Paeen Yasin, Ahmedabad, Farmanabad, Thole Dass) which also seems to effect poplars more than robinia. Sites with a high surface of water seem to be especially suited for willows which can grow in this sort of environment naturally (Gindai Yasin). The sites of Thole Dass and Sost Riverbed Plantation are in danger of flooding by the rivers in summer.
abandoned terraced fields: The site of Damass Intiaz is suffering from water shortage and the water is used on more productive fields. The afforestation on some old fields in Bar Jungle Imit is a case of "social fallow". In Jutal Paeen on the other hand some originally afforested patches of land have over the years been turned into agricultural fields.


 

Improving soil fertility by intercropping

The second task of my internship was to examine and quantify the improvement of the soil fertility by intercropping the afforested sites with alfalfa.
Since 1991 AKRSP offers the Village Organizations to freely provide them with 10 to 20 kg of seeds of alfalfa per hectare of afforested land. The original idea behind this measure is that it takes about two to three years until the villagers can utilize the leaves of planted trees as fodder for their livestock for the first time. Meanwhile they could plant and harvest alfalfa which at the same time being a legume fixes nitrogen, an important nutritive substance for any vegetation.
The amount of symbiotically fixated atmospheric nitrogen is about 225 kg per hectare covered with alfalfa (source: Lehrbuch der Bodenkunde by Scheffer/ Schachtschabel). The exact amount however is very dependent on factors such as radiation, precipitation, temperature, amount and type of applied fertilizer, phylum of rhizobia and the type of soil.
Since AKRSP is not equipped with any GIS, any site-related climatic data and any equipment to check physical and chemical properties of soil samples, it does make little sense to compare two different sites (one being intercropped with alfalfa), since we cannot assure their comparability. The only way to come to a scientific conclusion on this matter in my opinion is to establish a "control" in a suited plantation.
But there are however more positive aspects of intercropping with alfalfa than the fixation of nitrogen. Any intercropping reduces the percentage of fallow surface which is susceptible to erosion by wind and runoff water. At the same time it improves the structure of the soil especially that of the surface. Intercropping facilitates the infiltration of precipitation. The accumulating organic matter also adds to the soil fertility. Combined, these factors result in a more protected, humid and fertile soil and improve the location and the conditions of growth for the young trees.
The contribution to the supply of fodder for the village is however a double-edged matter. One of the problems experienced with intercropping is that in some cases the villagers reserve more and more space over the years for growing alfalfa instead of trees.
Once planted, alfalfa remains on the field for about six to seven years until it is gradually replaced by naturally growing grass.


 

Setting up a "control"

Major block plantations that are intercropped with alfalfa which I have visited are Sarayote (Gakuch Bala), Damass Intiaz, Bar Jungle Imit, Shutin Dass, Chamalling, Hanuchal Haramosh, Ghalapan Men Plantation and Nasirabad.
For establishing a "control" of our purpose, only a plain area is suited, because nitrogen in the form of NOł is very mobile and could otherwise be easily washed in from the intercropped upper slope. With this in mind there are only two major block plantations suitable for a "control"; Damass Intiaz and Bar Jungle Imit. Since the afforested fields of Damass Intiaz are owned by an individual who could cut down the plantation any time, the control should be established on one of the intercropped terraced fields of Bar Jungle Imit.
Unfortunately there is no more time for me to do this by myself. So if AKRSP is still interested in quantifying the amount of atmospheric nitrogen that is symbiotically fixated by alfalfa, it should appoint the forester of the FMU Punyal with this task.
The "control" should occupy an area of at least 25 square meters in the middle of an intercropped field. In the "control" no plants of alfalfa are supposed to grow over a period of maybe three years. Some villager has to take care of it and tear out any alfalfa from time to time until soil samples are being taken from the middle of the "control" and the adjacent intercropped land and sent to the Soil Survey of Pakistan in Lahore.


 

Task of my internship

There are two tasks which I was supposed to accomplish during my internship with Aga Khan Rural Support Program working in the field of Forestry (Natural Resource Management) from the 21. February until the 21. March of 1999.
The first is to map the major block plantations, that is to pinpoint the position of the geographical coordinates of these plantations and gather and attach important information to them in form of an if possible computerized map.
The second task is to check and quantify the improvement of the soil fertility of sites which have been intercropped with alfalfa.

 

 

Unfinished work

I was not able to finish both of the tasks of my internship to my full contentment.
I could map out most of the major block plantations of the area covered by AKRSP Regional Office Gilgit. Due to the season, my limited time and political reasons I was however not able to visit the sites of Bar Plantation (FMU Nagar), Theru and Thui plantations (FMU Gupis), the major block plantations in Misgar (FMU Hunza) and to have a look at the plantations in the valley of Astore (FMU Astore). To facilitate the inclusion of these major block plantations into the map at a later time I attached two pages of my standardized questionnaire at the end of this chapter.
I hope that AKRSP is soon obtaining, installing and using a Geographic Information System for the various reasons mentioned in the report. This could be a cheap software such as the professional and updated version of "Map Maker", "PC-Map" or "Arc View" which might serve all the needs of AKRSP. Such a software has the advantage that it is easy to use.
A software like "Map Maker" is not only a useful tool for inventorying and monitoring in the field of Natural Resource Management. Also all the other offices could use it to summarize all their space-related data, which until now is only available on piles of single sheets of paper, and make it at the same time easily accessible for everybody working for AKRSP.
My standardized field data which is copied on the floppy disk, can easily be converted to any database to attach it to the geographical coordinates of the major block plantations in such a computerized base map.
I also could not conclude my second task to check and quantify the change in soil fertility due to intercropping due to reasons mentioned in the related chapter of this report. I am however not sure, if this is of primary importance for AKRSP, since there are a lot of other mentioned benefits from intercropping.
If AKRSP is still interested in the amount of increase of symbiotically fixated atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, I named the most suited site and the procedure for establishing a "control".