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.
31: Factors Affecting Growth of Wildlings in the Forest and Nurturing Methods in Nursery
ABSTRACT: Forest restoration by planting nursery-raised seedling stock is relatively expensive. There are many technical problems involved in seedling production from seeds. Transplanting tree...
32: Propagating framework tree species to restore seasonally dry tropical forest: implications of seasonal seed dispersal and dormancy
ABSTRACT: An effective approach to forest restoration in degraded tropical forestland is the so-called ‘framework species method’, which involves planting 20–30 indigenous forest tree species, to...
33: Propagating framework trees to restore seasonally dry tropical forest in northern Thailand
In northern Thailand, a growing interest in restoring forests for wildlife conservation and environmental protection is increasing demand for high quality planting stock of a wide range of native...
34: Propagation of native forest tree species for forest restoration in northern Thailand
Suphawan prepares a propagation bag of leafy cuttings - using the "mistless" method, described in detail in Box 6.2 in "How to Plant a Forest". ABSTRACT: Loss of forest in Thailand, due to...
35: Effects of Container Type, Air Pruning and Fertilizer on the Propagation of Tree Seedlings for Forest Restoration
ABSTRACT: Forests in Thailand are fast disappearing. Recovery of degraded areas can be accelerated by planting native tree species. In order to maximise performance, the highest quality planting...
36: Replanting the World's Tropical Forests
A review of a symposium entitled "The Art and Practice of Conservation Planting", organized by the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute in September 2001 in Taipei. The symposium was meant to focus...
37: Pest and Disease Problems of Native Tree Seedlings in Northern Thailand: some examples
ABSTRACT: FORRU is identifying framework tree species for the restoration of Northern Thailand’s upper watershed forests. Since 1994, research at FORRU has focused on collecting seeds of native...
38: Propagating native trees to restore degraded forest ecosystems in northern Thailand
ABSTRACT: Producing a wide range of native forest tree species to restore forest ecosystems for biodiversity conservation is beset with nursery-scheduling problems. Different species produce seeds...
39: Nursery technology and tree species selection for restoring forest biodiversity in northern Thailand
ABSTRACT: The Forest Restoration Research Unit (FORRU) was established in 1994 to develop methods to restore forest ecosystems in degraded areas for the conservation of biodiversity in northern...
40: Implementing the Agenda
The main outcome of FORRU-CMU's first international workshop was the "Chiang Mai Research Agenda for the Restoration of Degraded Forest Lands for Wildlife Conservation in Southeast Asia". This...