THE NEW FORESTERS
Mordechai Ruach arrived in Israel from Egypt in 1949 at the start of the mass migration from Arab countries, and, like thousands of other immi-grants from countries such as Morocco, Yemen, and Kurdistan, he found temporary employment with the JNF. The work was hard because it was designed to be labor intensive and light on capital. Workers used simple hoes, shovels, and manual drills. Israelis were typically cynical about the quality of the JNF's immigrant employees, whose work was subsidized by the Ministry of Labor. Chaim Blass still bristles at such sneers when re-calling the dedication of these olim to the new forestry projects.[119] Ruach
Because of the unprecedented magnitude of the planting, improvisation characterized much of the decision making in the field. To a certain extent this was unavoidable. Even under normal circumstances, rainfall can un-dermine the best-laid plans and afforestation schedules: A few weeks with-out rain in the winter can jeopardize a planting timetable, and plentiful showers can extend a season beyond expectations. Weather offered many surprises during that energetic period. During Haifa's freak snowstorm of 1950, for example, a desperate effort to shovel the snow off pine seedlings in the country's largest nursery proved hopeless. To the astonishment of the foresters, those trees left safely under the protective snow blanket sur-vived, whereas the few exposed seedlings died.[121]
One failed experiment from the period involved carob trees. The carob is not mentioned in the Bible but figures prominently in the Mishna and Talmud, suggesting that it was imported from Yemen with the Nabateans after the destruction of the First Temple.[122] The carob tree has thick dark evergreen leaves that form a broad green crown. The black pods of the carob are rich in sugar and are sometimes used as a chocolate substitute. Although materials in the pods can be extracted for certain paints and glue, Weitz was most excited by their potential to replace imported fodder for cows and poultry. The tree requires deep soil where plowing is possible, but it can also survive in relatively high altitudes with little rainfall. JNF ex-periments indicated that one ton of carob fruit could be harvested from each dunam of trees. Twenty thousand dunams were planted alongside the conifers in the Judean hills and the Galilee. Then suddenly dairy farmers began complaining that the fruit inhibited milk production. The project was abandoned, but the trees remain.[123]
By this time, JNF planners were making a clear distinction between protective and productive forests. Along with their political, military, and aesthetic benefits, the former were designed to prevent erosion, stop sand dune movement, and mitigate the effects of dust storms. They were not designed to produce wood. Although most JNF officials argue that economic profit was never a key factor in planting strategies, some foresters, educated in Europe, clung to illusory hopes for a serious Israeli timber industry.[124] Even in the late 1980s, JNF planners had to provide as-surances that new tree species could eventually be logged to support the elusive particle-board industry.[125]
Today, timber yields exceed one hundred thousand tons per year, showing a steady increase. Roughly 40 percent of the wood comes from thinning activities, another 40 percent comes from felling conifers, and the remaining 20 percent from eucalyptus trees.[126] This provides about 10 percent of domestic wood consumption. While this is not an insignif-icant level, logging no longer seems to influence JNF decision makers or supporters.