Posted on 04/29/2004 8:31:03 PM PDT by neversweat
CORVALLIS - Robin Rose, a forestry professor at Oregon State University, says he has never before done reforestation work in a land riddled by such devastation. Rose recently returned from Afghanistan, where he worked on forestry and agricultural development as part of the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act of 2002. The reality of the terrors Afghans have been through, he said, is beyond the understanding of most people in America, and he wanted to help.
Robin Rose, a forestry professor at Oregon State University, is working with Afghan natives on forestry development.
"I felt compelled to try to help the people of Afghanistan after seeing pictures of the ecological devastation the country has sustained," Rose said. "The stripping of most of the trees during the Soviet Union's occupation in order to eradicate the hiding places of opposition fighters, combined with years of drought and erosion, has reduced the country to a barren wasteland."
"The land is in desperate need of reforestation," said Rose, "but you need experts to come in and train the Afghan foresters on how to grow and plant trees in a harsh environment."
Rose's extensive knowledge of reforestation issues allowed him to provide that expertise, but the working conditions are tough and the progress is often slow. "I have been all around the world, and I have never seen so much lead and expended ammunition as in the Paghman Nursery where I was working," said Rose. "You can't kick the soil without seeing shells and antiaircraft rounds."
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonstate.edu ...
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