Evaluation of Afforestation Practices in Semi Arid Regions in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey is a potential country for afforestation practices in semi arid regions which created by climatic features and anthropogenic effects in the historical process. In spite of being on the fourth class in the world, when taking into consideration of existing afforestation potential, an important methodological process are waiting for Turkish foresters in afforestation and erosion control practices, because of the fact that Turkish foresters have been focused on this kind of practices, especially since 2000. Generally, afforestation activities require labor and long term investments. In the semi arid regions, these labor and investments may be higher than the other regions, because of some difficulties. According to some studies, Turkey has 31 million hectare of semi arid region, 5-6 million hectare of which can be appreciated as potential areas for afforestation. For this reason, in the afforestation practices in Turkey, works in the semi arid regions have been taking an important role together with global climate change. In the inner, eastern, southeastern part of Turkey, the more important forceful sense for Turkish foresters is plant diversity in afforestation practices. Nevertheless, detailed and long term studies on production tecniques of existed usable species, seedling characters, surv ey an d cul ti vati on ph ases of si tes sh oul d b e desi gn ed toge th er wi th th e studi es on practices which will be provide tolerance to the plants against the drought stress. Because, in Turkey, the past of afforestation works mostly rely on the experiences in the temperate regions. So, these experiences will be able to enhance with detailed researches. In this study, to define a route in the afforestation practices in semi arid regions where salinity and drought are the limited factors together with the soil, was aimed. Also, natural usable taxa, populations and genotypes, seedling type and production tecnique, land cultivation, plantation tecnique, interval-distance in the planting area, treatments as tree shelter, mycorrhiza, mulching, soil amendments for supporting tolerance against the drought stress, will be evaluated for supporting the afforestation activities in the other countries resemble to Turkey.

Full text

Forest, Wildlife and Wood Sciences for Society Development International
Scientific Conference, 16–18 Nisan 2009, Session 1: Forest Genetics and
Silviculture, Prague-Czech Republic.
Evaluation of Afforestation Practices in Semi Arid Regions in Turkey
Nuri ÖNER1, Ahmet SIVACIOĞLU2
Çankırı Karatekin University, Faculty of Forestry, Çankırı.
2 Kastamonu University, Faculty of Forestry, Kastamonu.
E-mail: nurioner@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Turkey is a potential country for afforestation practices in semi arid regions which created by
climatic features and anthropogenic effects in the historical process. In spite of being on the
fourth class in the world, when taking into consideration of existing afforestation potential, an
important methodological process are waiting for Turkish foresters in afforestation and
erosion control practices, because of the fact that Turkish foresters have been focused on this
kind of practices, especially since 2000. Generally, afforestation activities require labor and
long term investments. In the semi arid regions, these labor and investments may be higher
than the other regions, because of some difficulties. According to some studies, Turkey has 31
million hectare of semi arid region, 5-6 million hectare of which can be appreciated as
potential areas for afforestation. For this reason, in the afforestation practices in Turkey,
works in the semi arid regions have been taking an important role together with global climate
change. In the inner, eastern, south-eastern part of Turkey, the more important forceful sense
for Turkish foresters is plant diversity in afforestation practices. Nevertheless, detailed and
long term studies on production tecniques of existed usable species, seedling characters,
survey and cultivation phases of sites should be designed together with the studies on
practices which will be provide tolerance to the plants against the drought stress. Because, in
Turkey, the past of afforestation works mostly rely on the experiences in the temperate
regions. So, these experiences will be able to enhance with detailed researches.
In this study, to define a route in the afforestation practices in semi arid regions where salinity
and drought are the limited factors together with the soil, was aimed. Also, natural usable
taxa, populations and genotypes, seedling type and production tecnique, land cultivation,
plantation tecnique, interval-distance in the planting area, treatments as tree shelter,
mycorrhiza, mulching, soil amendments for supporting tolerance against the drought stress,
will be evaluated for supporting the afforestation activities in the other countries resemble to
Turkey.
Keywords: Afforestation, Drought, Arid, Turkey