Two experts from the United States Forestry Service (USFS) recently visited Israel
and met with their counterparts at the Jewish National Fund.
Mark Knaebe and Larry Swan, who are USFS experts on forest products utilization, met with the heads of the JNF Afforestation Division .The latter hopes to see of techniques used in the US can be applied in Israel
"KKL-JNF is interested in reviewing everything connected to what can be done with the trees that are cut down in our forests due to thinning in both young and mature forests, salvage logging operations after forest fires like the Carmel blaze ,and more, along with what we call slash, a term for the branches and other forest materials that are a product of pruning and forest care," Kalil Adar, director of the JNF's Northern Region Forestry Department said.
The wood market, he added, is constantly changing and the JNF seeks to keep up with the times.
"We don’t have nearly enough wood to prevent importing lumber to Israel, but the JNF would like to see more cities, regional councils and public sites making use of blue-and-white timber for garden furniture, picnic tables, and so on," Adar said.