Event Summary:
Dahr al Ahmar is located near the famous town of Rachaya seated at the foothills of the majestic Mt. Hermon (Jabal el Cheikh). We needed at least 2 hours to reach the village from Beirut, but the journey was pleasant and worthwhile. It was still ironically warm for the end of November, and just about everyone in the country was wondering when winter will come.
We met with the mayor at the municipal headquarters on the main road passing through the village that continued onwards through the hills and valleys into Rachaya. Our planting destination was at the top of a hill near a civic auditorium/sports arena overlooking the Dahr al Ahmar on one side with Mt. Hermon on the other.
We had a total of 16 volunteers, a handful of which were personal friends of mine who also happen to be AUB alumni. They could not have chosen a better planting trip to attend given the extreme difficulty of digging in the terrain. It was clear once we began digging that we needed muscle.
The soil at the site was extremely compacted and it was almost like digging into cement in some areas. It was even more crucial to break the soil as deep as possible (ideally up to 50 cm) in order to allow for the roots to penetrate while easing the flow of water down to them.
There were only a handful of species used in this particular site; nettle trees (Celtis australis), Levantine pistachio or Terebinth (Pistacia palaestina), Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), and Turkey oak (Quercus cerris). The municipality of Dahr al Ahmar led by its progressive mayor, Mr. Shaoke Bahmad, received over 1,000 seedlings that will be planted in various other locations on municipal land. Amongst the other species that are amongst that total are Montpellier maples (Acer monspassulanum ssp. microphyllum), Amara almonds (Prunus dulcis ssp. amara), oriental almond (Prunus argentea), stone pine (Pinus pinea) and Syrian pear (Pyrus syriacus).
Our volunteers first set out to dig as many holes as we could in less than 3 hours (just before lunch time). The municipality brought some paid workers to help, but our standards set for digging deep holes were not met by them. Instead of having them dig deeper, we decided to leave the holes they had dug as an experiment to see whether our theory holds water (figuratively speaking, of course; we don’t want holes that hold water!).
Bassam Hamzeh, who has been conducting his master’s thesis in the field of native tree species propagation and who has been actively involved with Ibsar for the last 3-4 years, helped to place and space the seedlings properly. It was clear that we need the keen eye of an experienced landscaper in order to visualize what some of the public areas we plant in will look like in 15-20 years when the trees are mature. It is not always that we are trying to simulate what will happen in nature (as one would expect in rural reforestation) since we often plant in areas that are for public use, such as gardens, roadsides, schools and playgrounds. Hence, landscape design is essential in our line of work.
While the volunteers were having lunch, Bassam and I began to set the seedlings in their appropriate holes where they were to be planted. The landscape approach used was to consolidate species in a uniform patter, e.g. Kermes oaks along the edge on one side, Turkey oak on the other, nettle trees along the building, pistachios in one section, etc).
Within less than 2 hours following our lunch break, we managed to plant nearly 200 seedlings. The water truck was already at the site ready to soak the thirsty seedlings after they had been mulched with stone. Everyone did a wonderful job and the municipality members were very happy with our work.
Following the planting, we had a bit of surplus time left so we took the volunteers to Rachaya to visit the souk (apparently the longest in the Middle East) and a trip to the cultural heritage site, the citadel of Rachaya, where some of Lebanon’s earliest leaders were imprisoned by the French mandate authorities. Their escape triggered the Lebanese independence and the castle is now a cornerstone of patriotism.
From the citadel one can see the magnificent Mt Hermon which peaks at over 2,800 m.a.s.l., usually containing snow for most of the year (but hardly any this year as one can imagine). In September and annual pilgrimage is observed with a hike beginning around midnight to the top of the peak to watch the sunrise from the Jordan Valley. Something definitely worth doing!