FORRU-CMU contributed to a project organized by Thailand's Supreme Command and the IUCN to restore forest on 1,440 ha of degraded land on Doi Mae Salong (DMSL), Chiang Rai Province. The project was adopted by IUCN’s 'Livelihoods and Landscapes' Initiative, with tree-planting sponsored by Plant a Tree Today (PATT) Foundation. The restoration sites were exhausted former agricultural areas, on steep slopes, at risk of soil erosion and landslides.
The objectives were
- to transform degraded areas into forest to honour the Royal Family and
- to prevent soil erosion.
FORRU-CMU provided technical and scientific assistance to the project (2007-10) Sixty village leaders, local authority officers, school teachers and forestry officers attended 3 workshops, run by FORRU-CMU staff in Chiang Mai, on the general concepts and skills needed for forest restoration.
Subsequently, IUCN organized construction of tree nurseries at 8 village schools in the project area. FORRU-CMU provided training in tree nursery techniques on-site at the 8 school tree nurseries during 2009. The FORRU-CMU team ran a series of educational and training events at the schools, covering seed germination, potting trees, care of trees in the nursery, as well as tree planting and aftercare.
Seed collection was identified as requiring special attention. To address this, FORRU-CMU organized a “forest children” (“look mai pah”) club program. Children got involved in labelling target seed trees —"treasure trees"—, collecting seeds from them and also helping to germinate them. Participating children became members of the club, and accumulated points on a membership card, in exchange for rewards.
In addition, an experimental plot was established to test the suitability of the framework species method of forest restoration (FORRU, 2006) near Ban Lo Yo, in collaboration with the village committee. FORRU-CMU carried out monitoring of this plot over the year and a technical report, presenting initial results on performance of the planted trees, was submitted to IUCN in December 2009.
1: Effects of fertilizer on growth and biomass allocation of three evergreen tree species from seasonally dry tropical forests
ABSTRACT: Tree planting is widely accepted as a strategy to mitigate climate change, with a strong focus on use of native tree species. Various kinds of fertilizer have been recommended, to...
2: Young Forest Restorers—Action Book
This user-friendly booklet guides school children through a series of hands-on forest-restoration activities from seed collection and germination to growing trees in nurseries, tree planting,...
3: Exploring the Environment & Nature of Chiang Mai: a Teachers' Handbook—ENGLISH VERSION
The Thai version of the manual received 3rd prize in the writing category of the Green Globe Institute Awards. Phai and Som (our education officers), who were primary writers and designers of...
4: Effects of Root Air-Pruning on Framework Tree Species Seedlings Production for Forest Restoration in Northern and Southern Thailand
Abstract: Tree planting is a simple tool to bring back the forest area. Therefore, seedling production is one of the important steps in forest restoration. Root pruning can promote the root system...
5: Quality and production costs of seedlings grown with different root-pruning techniques
Abstract: About half of the cost of forest restoration by the framework species method (FSM) is planting stock production costs. Manual root pruning promotes better tree seedlings, but is time...
6: Testing a new type of fertilizer to improve nursery production of framework tree species for forest ecosystem restoration in northern Thailand
ABSTRACT: To improve planting-stock production of native forest tree species for tropical forest ecosystem restoration projects in northern Thailand, we compared a new controlled-release...
7: Seed and microsite limitations of large-seeded, zoochorous trees in tropical forest restoration plantations in northern Thailand
ABSTRACT: On deforested or degraded land, planting mixtures of native forest tree species facilitates establishment of incoming tree seedling species (i.e. "species recruitment") by rapidly...
8: Selection of native tree species for restoring forest ecosystems
ABSTRACT: The framework species method is a well-established tropical forest restoration technique, which involves planting 20-30 indigenous forest trees species, with high survival and growth...
9: The Effects of Fertilizer and Aspirin on Propagation of Ficus Species from Seed
ABSTRACT: Ficus spp. (or fig trees) are keystone species in tropical forest and have been promoted as framework species for forest restoration in Northern Thailand. This study aimed to improve...
10: Restoring Tropical Forests: a Practical Guide
Available in English, Spanish and French The authors at a publishers' meeting, Kew 2012Restoring Tropical Forests is a hands-on guide to restoring degraded tropical forest ecosystems. Based...