cover an THE FORESTS OF CHILE The forests of Chile, including natural woodland and plantation, area of 16 million hectares or 22 percent of the Republic's land surface. This area, though small in world totals, nevertheless is substantial on a national basis, providing some 3.2 hectares per capita as against an estimated world average of 1.7 hectares, woodland and forLest combined, while in terms of commercial sawtimber forest Chile has a per capita acreage of 1.1 hectares as against a world average of 1.3 hectares. In comparison with a well-wooded country, such as the United States, Chile's forest resource compares very favorably on a per capita basis, Chile having about 3.2 hectares total area, forest and woodland combined, and 1.1 hectares of commercial forest as against 2.0 and 1.4 hectares, respectively, in the United States. Chile is particularly rich in virgin old growth sawtimber. It has about three times as much of this desirable type of forest on a per capita basis as the United States. Chile's forests, distributed through some 38 degrees of latitude, from scrubby patches of woodland in the northern desert to windswept remnants of high forest at the Straits of Magallanes and from sea level to timberline along the snow-capped Andes, show a corresponding diversity in composition and general characteristics (Figs. 1 and 2 and Plate 1). In the three sparsely inhabited desert provinces of the north, where rain rarely falls and no place has an annual rainfall of over 12 13 centimeters, trees occur only as watered plantations or as rare patches of scrubby growth suitable only for fuelwood or as a source of tannin. Here are found such species as Tamarugo (Prosopis tamarugo), Algarrobo (Prosopis chilensis), and Carbon (Cordia decandra). South from Coquimbo to Talca is a true woodland zone of open, scrubby stands of short-boled trees fit only for fuelwood or charcoal, primarily evergreen hardwoods such as Espino (Acacia cavenia), Boldo (Boldea boldus), and Peumo (Cryptocarya rubra), usually only 2 to 5 meters tall though occasionally higher in sheltered valleys or canyon bottoms. This is the great central region embracing the major cities of Santiago and Valparaiso and most of Chile's industrial and agricultural activities. Here also occur the beginnings of commercial plantations, chiefly Eucalyptus or Bluegum (Eucalyptus globulus) and Alamo (Populus nigra italica), and the first scattered bodies of natural forest. In general, however, this region of light rainfall with mild, humid winters and cool, dry summers is essentially a woodland area, once the widespread bosque or matorral of the Spanish Conquistadores but now pushed back by cutting, cultivation, fire, and grazing to mere remnants on uncultivated slopes and ridges. The provinces to the immediate south from Maule to the Bio-Bio are also essentially woodland but here the rainfall is higher, up to 200 centimeters annually exclusive of the high Andes ranges, and both plantations and natural forest are more in evidence. In this zone plantations now reach their greatest importance with Pino Monterey or Insignis Pine (Pinus radiata) the dominant species. Below the Bio-Bio begins the natural forest, predominantly hardwoods, originally stretching uninterruptedly from ocean to cordillera except for scattered lakes and natural prairies. Here occur such forest species as Coigue (Nothofagus dombeyi) and Tepa (Laurelia serrata) found commonly the length and breadth of Chile's forest area, together with the somewhat more localized Rauli (Nothofagus procera), Roble (Nothofagus obliqua), Laurel (Laurelia sempervirens), Olivillo (Aextoxic on punc 1 tatum), Ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia), Lingue (Persea lingue), Tineo (Weinmannia trichosperma), Araucaria (Araucaria araucana), Luma (Myrtus luma), Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), Manio (Podocarpus salignus). Cipres de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron uviferum), and many others. (See plate 2). A list of the principal timber species is given on page 170. The forests are in general dense, with trees commonly ranging up to 100 centimeters in diameter and frequently larger, with clear lengths 6 to 20 meters and total heights of 25 to 35 meters for mature trees. ce and Araucaria grow characteristically to larger sizes, the Alerce ing exceptional diameters of 5 meters and heights of 70 meters. C |