The Greening of Israel Takes a New Turn

Until recently, forests planted by the Jewish National Fund (a land-development agency specializing in afforestation, park management and reclamation) once consisted of a single type of tree, creating green vistas of conifers planted in neat rows as far as the eye could see. (All told, the JNF has planted some 200 million trees covering some 300,000 acres.) However, throughout Israel, man-made forests have now taken on a new "natural" appearance.

Nina Amir, an agronomist in the forestry division of the JNF, says the changeover was prompted by a host of factors. Two major catalysts were the fact that one kind of plant made for the rapid spread of disease and that an unending carpet of needles from the conifers helped spread forest fires. A number of forests suffered in this way, particularly the wooded area that used to line Route 1, the main traffic artery from the coastal plain to Jerusalem, which was first devastated by disease, then ravaged by a forest fire, and is now under rehabilitation. However, the adoption of mixed planting over the past decade has also brought about a change in roles: JNF forests are no longer intended to produce wood for Israel, only greenery and good land management techniques. The result is not only wiser agronomic practices, but also enhanced aesthetics. Different varieties of trees are intermixed, such as pine trees with pistachio or olive trees, dotted with an occasional cropping of tall cypress trees that together create a "natural" forest effect.

Even the undulating barren hills of the northern Negev that greet summer travelers heading south to Beersheba are now dotted with a string of miniature oases of greenery. One reason for the sparse vegetation is that the Negev's fine-grained soil does not readily absorb water, resulting in an effect known as "runoff". This has been turned into an advantage by adapting an engineering technique used by ancient Nabatean farmers thousands of years ago. The watershed is divided into runoff-contributing areas and runoff-collecting areas, where water can filter into the subsoil. As a result, one can now see lines of tamarisk and other sturdy varieties that have been planted, either in lines or in "pools", where varieties such as eucalyptus and acacia that are naturally-irrigated by surrounding terrain during the wet winter months provide enough moisture in the subsoil to sustain a given number of trees the whole year-round. All of this forms part of an ongoing program, designed and carried out by the JNF, known as "savannization".

Yet the most striking change is undoubtedly landscaping close to the cities. In the past, traffic islands and interchanges filled with flowers and green grass were the norm a look imported from Europe with its abundant rainfall. In recent years, however, landscaping along many traffic arteries in Israel - particularly in urban areas - has been revolutionized. Heightened awareness that Israel is a semiarid country with limited water resources has prompted a host of innovative solutions.

Along the Ayalon Freeway cutting through the center of Tel Aviv's metropolitan area, for example, sections of the embankment have been planted experimentally with blocks of unirrigated foliage of different colors and textures, some based on thick cactus-like ground cover that requires very little care and no artificial irrigation. One of the most startling and pleasing transformations is visible amid a series of cloverleaf interchanges along the Geha superhighway just east of Tel Aviv, where gravel has been artfully employed by one of Israel's most innovative landscape architects. The most ambitious scheme is the 12-acre Aluf Sadeh interchange (see photo), where amphitheater-like circles - or triangles - between the road and the exit ramps are filled with patches of gravel mixed with patches of foliage creating a pleasing "Japanese garden" effect.

Apart from the stunning visual effect, the use of readily available gravel serves two purposes: it significantly reduces water consumption in landscaping as a whole and it also cuts the cost of garden maintenance crews, as there are less green areas to be mowed and weeded (the gravel areas can be sprayed against weeds). Furthermore, gravel is known to be an excellent material for preventing erosion on embankments that are part and parcel of any interchange. Gravel and other forms of rock used as a "green element" have also been laid between the trees along traffic islands, replacing grass.

Another apparent Israeli first are two-dimensional "artificial trees" that line an east-west freeway cutting through Tel Aviv's southern suburbs and the built-up areas of Rishon Lezion and Bat Yam. The freeway is "lined" with clusters of two-dimensional open metal grids. In outline, the grids are shaped like trees and attached to the retaining walls along the highway. At the narrow base of some of the "trees" delicate climbing vines have been planted, nurtured by a line of drip irrigation. Trained to climb up these stylized "tree-shaped" trellises, the vines will eventually cover their outline to look like a living, breathing forest.