The Benefits and Challenges of Pine Trees

By Kitlang D. Kharkongor

The state of Meghalaya is a land of many hills, rivers, and waterfalls. It also features numerous valleys, cliffs, dense forests, a variety of plants, wild vegetables or medicinal herbs, and different species of trees that are valuable, beautiful, and truly pleasant to behold.

For the clarity of readers, students, and especially farmers, let’s divide these different types of trees into two main categories. One category is the pine trees (diengkseh) or pine forests (lum kseh), which we will discuss in detail here. The other category consists of hardwood trees (diengmet) or hardwood forests, collectively known as rainforests. There are about five or six species of pine trees, while hardwood trees have numerous varieties.

Apart from the Khasi pine (Pinus khasiana), which grows everywhere in the high and mid-altitudes of the East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, and Ri-Bhoi District, other pine species are generally known as foreign pines. These foreign pines are not as abundant as the Khasi pine.

Advantages of Pine Trees

The benefits we get from Khasi pine trees are:

• Economic Value: Once the trees are mature, owners can earn money by selling them as firewood for cooking or as timber for constructing houses and making furniture like tables and chairs.
• Aesthetics: Pine trees bring greenery, coolness, cleanliness, and beauty to the environment. They also help beautify and restore wastelands and barren hills.
• Seeds: Pine seeds are abundant and easy to obtain, unlike hardwood tree seeds, which are not as plentiful.
• Agriculture: In paddy cultivation, placing pine branches in the fields can repel leaf-folder insects that eat the rice leaves, as these pests cannot stand the smell of turpentine oil from the pine. Turpentine also helps kill blue-green algae, which can hinder the health of rice plants and significantly reduce yields if they become too abundant. These two protective measures have been used since ancient times.
• Household Use: Pine needles are a blessing for poor and needy families, who can use them to make mattresses for sleeping or resting.

These are a few of the benefits we get from pine trees or pine forests. However, if we dig deeper into how pine trees and pine forests bring numerous difficulties to villages, especially to agriculture, it is time for us to think more deeply about the following points.

Disadvantages of Pine Trees

1. Poor Decomposition

If we crush or grind fresh, green pine needles in a mortar or grinder, we will find they are only slightly moist because they contain very little water compared to mint leaves or the leaves of many broad-leaf trees. When pine needles fall to the ground, much like plastic, they do not decompose to fertilize the soil; they merely change color from green to muddy brown. Even if you keep pine needles in a pigsty for one or two years, where a pig tramples on them, the needles will not decompose to become manure. It has also been observed that the cloth used to make a mattress from pine needles decays quickly, while the needles themselves just dry out and never rot.

2. Ineffective Soil Erosion Prevention

Pine forests provide only slight prevention of soil erosion because the needles are small and sparse like thorns, unlike the broad leaves of hardwood trees. During the rainy months, most of the topsoil (fertile soil) is washed away to lower areas.

3. Poor Water Retention

If we walk barefoot on pine hills, we will find the soil is hard and hurts the feet because it is very dry. Pine hills are generally unable to retain or harvest rainwater (no water retention/conservation). Most of the rainwater runs off to the valleys, with very little seeping into the ground. The springs and streams that are usually found near hardwood forests, which produce delicious and clean drinking water, are not found near or under pine forests that are over 25 to 30 years old. Here, we must understand that pine forests lead to a scarcity of drinking and irrigation water, as well as a shortage of water to feed the hydroelectric reservoirs (like Umiam Lake of MeSEB). Today, this lake receives water mainly during the rainy season because its catchment areas are overwhelmingly dominated by pine trees.

4. Lack of Biodiversity

Pine forests, whether large or small, are often clear and you can see from one end to the other. Most birds (except crows), which feed on pests that damage crops, do not build their nests in pine trees because there is no protection for them. Many types of wild animals also do not live in pine forests but merely pass through them because there is no food. Delicious and nutritious wild vegetables or various medicinal herbs cannot grow in pine forests, with few exceptions like Lantana khasiana/camara and wild mushrooms. Medicinal herbs that grow on the branches of hardwood trees will never be found on pine trees.

5. Soil Acidity

The reason for this lack of biodiversity is that pine needles and trees dry out the soil, make it sour, and increase its acidity. Soil from a pine forest in Jaintia Hills, tested at the Laboratory of the Research Station, showed a pH of 5.3–5.4, which means the acid is strong enough to make the soil strongly acidic.

•  Understanding pH: pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of water or soil, on a scale from 1 to 14.
• 1–4.5: Extremely acidic (like soil in coal mines).
•  4.6–5.0: Very strongly acidic.
•  5.1–5.5: Strongly acidic.
•  5.6–6.0: Medium acidity.
•  6.1–6.5: Slightly acidic.
•  6.6–7.3: Neutral.
•  7.4–14: Alkaline (like soil in limestone quarries).

For better crop yields, the agriculture office advises farmers to test their soil. If the soil is too acidic, they are taught to apply slaked lime before plowing. Soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5 is ideal for crops like potatoes or rice.

6. Impact on Agriculture and Aquaculture

It is often found that in fish ponds or paddy fields located near pine forests, fish take a long time to grow, and the rice plants have stunted growth and poor yields. This happens because the water flowing from pine hills is more acidic and lacks the nutrients needed to support fish or rice. Several water samples were tested at the Research Station in Jowai and the Department of Zoology and Bio-Chemistry at St. Edmund’s College with the help of Dr. D.R. Thangkhiew, Head of Department:

• Water from a deep well in Pommura village (East Khasi Hills) had a pH of 6.1, 5.73, and 5.95 (medium).
• Water from a small stream below Mawryngkneng village (East Khasi Hills) had a pH of 6.4, 6.3, and 6.36 (slightly acidic).
• Rainwater in Shillong (Lumkshaid) had a pH of 6.4, 6.16, and 6.28 (slightly acidic).
• Rainwater in Jowai (Lad Thalaboh) had a pH of 5.7, 5.8, and 5.8. This was measured at the Research Station from water collected from the Lum Kseh near the Neng paddy field, by the Myntdu river.
• Water from a mixed forest (many pines, some hardwoods) near Mookyndur village (Jaintia Hills) had a pH of 5.5, 5.48, and 5.52 (strongly acidic).
• Tap water at the Research Station, Jowai had a pH of 6.64 (neutral).
• Finely ground pine needles mixed with this tap water resulted in a pH of just 3.49. When mixed with distilled water (pH 7.25), the pH was 3.38 (extremely acidic).

When we examine these pH values, the public and especially farmers must understand the difficulties that pine forests bring to agriculture. If we try to grow vegetables, flowers, or fruit trees under the canopy of a pine tree, they will not thrive.

In contrast, in fish ponds and paddy fields near hardwood forests or rainforests, fish grow quickly because they get plenty of food known as plankton (microscopic organisms) brought by the water. Similarly, rice plants grow strong roots and bear heavy grains because the water from hardwood forests is sweet and nutritious for them. The pH of water from the spring in Nongjri village is 5.9, 5.8, and 5.85 (medium pH). As explained by Dr. J.K. Durong, a former Director of the Agriculture Department, flowers thrive when watered with water having a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. According to research by Dr. D.R. Thangkhiew, water with a neutral pH of 6.4 to 7.7 is best for raising fish.

7. Negative Ecological Impacts

* Seed Dispersal: Almost all animals and birds eat wild fruits along with the seeds inside. Because their stomachs cannot digest the seeds, they are expelled with their droppings. Since animal droppings are organic manure, the seeds germinate easily. This is how animals and birds help in the dispersal of hardwood tree seeds across Mother Earth. Animals like elephants, tigers, monkeys, and others live only in hardwood or dense forests (their natural habitat). These creations of God help maintain the ecological balance. If the ecological balance is stable, our daily life as humans will be secure.

* Habitat Loss: If we look around the state (except for the Garo Hills), we will see that hardwood forests have greatly diminished and have been replaced by pine forests. When this happens, various species of animals and birds will migrate, and the loss will be great not only for us but also for our children and future generations.

* Lack of Undergrowth: Very few creepers, except for one or two like chayote, grow on pine trees.

* Absence of Earthworms: Anglers will be disappointed if they look for earthworms in pine forests because earthworms do not live there due to the lack of food and excessively dry soil. The earthworm (a decomposer) helps to decompose all types of leaves, except for pine needles. Wise people say that “man owes his life to a six-inch layer of fertile soil,” which supports and feeds him daily, forever and ever.

* Reduced Rainfall: The regularity of rainfall has decreased in recent years, possibly because evaporation from dry pine forests is very low. When there is less water vapor rising to the sky, there will be less regular rainfall. A scarcity of rain leads to various problems, including health issues, a decline in agriculture, and low water levels in the MeSEB reservoirs. To witness this, let’s observe the rainfall in the villages near the Umiam Lake, such as Mawlyndep, Umbir, Umsaw, Umbang, Sumer, Lad Umroi, the ICAR Complex, Nongsder (in Ri-Bhoi District), and Mawiong (in East-Khasi Hills). During the rainy season, these villages used to get rain almost every evening because of evaporation from Umiam Lake. About 25-30 years ago, we all remember the rain that would last for “9 days and 9 nights,” but now it is sad that we only get rain for a few hours or 2-3 consecutive days. This usually only happens when there are cyclones or depressions in the Bay of Bengal.

* Poor Windbreaks: Hardwood forests are known as windbreakers that help protect villages from the force of strong winds because they have thick undergrowth. Pine forests cannot reduce the force of cyclones because they are sparse and clear. During strong winds, topsoil from gardens is blown away, leaving behind infertile sub-soil. The wind also carries various airborne diseases that affect the health of people, plants, and animals.

* Fire Hazard: Pine forests are highly flammable during the dry months because of the extremely dry pine needles. Fire is the ultimate destroyer, not only of plants but of all living things that provide benefits to us.

* Drying Water Sources: The final challenge from pine forests is that many small and large streams and rivers have started to dry up during the dry season. Even though we live in an age of science, science cannot help with water scarcity if the destruction and thoughtless felling of hardwood trees continue.

A Call for Restoration

As discussed, hardwood forests help retain topsoil and rainwater (Natural Rain Water Harvesting), and delicious, clean drinking water flows from these forests throughout all four seasons. The overabundance of pine trees and the scarcity of hardwood forests severely disrupt the ecological balance.

To restore a rich and abundant Mother Nature, with clean and safe drinking water, and to prevent hydroelectric reservoirs from drying up in the dry season, it is time for us to stand up, increase, and preserve the remaining hardwood forests and reduce the number of pine trees. Hardwood trees should be planted within pine forests because they not only retain rainwater, but their leaves (leaf-mould) also help to cool and fertilize the soil.

To prove this, walk barefoot in a hardwood forest; you will find that the soil is cool and moist in all seasons, and as soft as a carpet. The sacred groves, known as ‘Law Kyntang’ or ‘Law Lyngdoh’, and the community forests, which have many hardwood trees, are the best examples. Due to the foresight of our ancestors, these forests remain dense to this day because no one dares to destroy them for fear of being strangled by a demon. Our ancestors taught this because they foresaw that future generations would be selfish and seek only their own benefit.

If school and college students do more research on this topic, it will greatly benefit their studies and their future lives. Like those lives and various creations that help to beautify and organize Nature or the ecosystem, let us, humans, who are the special creations of the Creator, take upon ourselves the heavy responsibility to beautify and preserve this Mother Earth who feeds us every day and is on the verge of dying.

We all understand the value of abundant drinking water and the need for 24-hour electricity. Therefore, in all catchment areas, let us re-thicken them by planting many hardwood trees and protect the wild animals, birds, and fish by allowing them to multiply in the lap of Mother Nature. This is the onus of our present generation, so that future generations will be safe.

Let us remember that the sounds of animals and the songs of birds are signs of safety when we travel through the hills, rivers, and forests. Let us also remember that their sweet, melodious songs soothe and refresh our minds. We all know that this world is not just a place for humans to live, but it is also a home for all the different forms of life created by the Lord. Let us live together with these lives forever and ever by refraining from using the catapult and the gun, because our children and grandchildren will also need these living things.

Let us also remind ourselves that “Mother Earth can satisfy all our needs, but not our greed.” The safe and bright future of our children and future generations depends heavily on how we, the present generation, think about and care for this ailing Mother Nature, and especially on how we love and respect all her laws. Even though our state has abundant pine trees, we must remember that pine forests are not really forests, and without true forests, the life of us “hill people” will be “dark, sorrowful, and difficult.”