jari at age 19 - Philip M. Fearnside - Inpa

Although the plantationswere begun in 1968, it is misleading toassume that the firm bas the benefit of19 years of silvicultural experience at thesite. The high turnover in personnel basresulted in virtually no living memory ofthe earlier years among those in positionsof technical responsibility. I was frequentlysurprised to find myself called uponas a source of information about whathad been done under the previous management.High turnover can beparticularly detrimental to long-term researchprojects, since silviculture experimentsby nature take years to produceresults. Adequate record-keeping is essentialto insure against the loss of informationfrom past experience in theface of staff turnover. The formal experimentsset up by the research departmentare usually well recorded, but asubstantial body of research informationis generated informally from spur-of-themomentinitiatives in the forest managementdepartment. These research initiativesare a healthy way of quickly obtainingrough information on the responseto variations in fertilizer application,weeding, and other management techniques.When informal trials of this typegive promising results, the research departmentfollows them up by formal controlledexperiments. Examples includefertilizer use in compacted soil in formerlog storage decks and the use of moreeconomically handled tubes for plantingseedlings in the nursery. Much of the informationgained from informal trials islost when the staff leave Jari.The new J ari has hadthe benefit of a stable management at thetop, in sharp contrast to the estate's pasthistory. While Ludwig hired and firedover 30 directors over the course of his14-year tenure, a single director led theenterprise from the time control passedto the present consortium in 1982 untilhe stepped down in July 1986. Theformer director will continue to participatein J ari's management in an advisorycapacity.D) Use of Native ForestFewer species of treesfrom the native forest are used for pulpat J ari than previously. Only 5% of thenative species are for pulping: the listbas been reduced from 80 species usedin 1983 to 40 species in 1986. Only thosespecies with long fibers, which resisttearing, are now used. The heavier nativewoods break the lighter Eucalyptus.Fig. 1 .Location and features of Jari.A significant addition tothe Eucalyptus deglupta pulp has beenwood from "capitari" (Tabebuia insignis),a tree obtained from natural forest inthe floodplain along the lgarape !pitinga,a tributary to the J ari River near itsconfluence with the Amazon. Harvest isfrom December through July, duringwhich time the mill consumes daily 700m tons wet weight of the species. An8000 ha tract of capitari is being cutover the 1985-1987 period, 5000 ba ofwhich bad been cut by April 1986. Anetwork of canals has been constructedto float the logs to a central collectionpoint where they are grouped into rafts,P A R Aof 25,000 logs for the 3-day trip to thepulp mill. The cut areas are not replanted,nor are they converted to water buffaloor rice. Capitarf makes up 40% ofthe mixture in Jari's Eucalyptus degluptapulp. Capitarf has thicker fibers andthinner walls than does Eucalyptus, resultingin better quality pulp than wouldbe obtained from pure Eucalyptus. Theestate's "Jarilyptus" pulp is therefore notconsidered to be Eucalyptus in internationalmarkets, but is classified as a differentproduct with different uses.Some native "mungubeira"(Bombax munguba), another varzeatree, is also used. Its long fiber is used18JAN- FEB 1988, VOL. 13 Nl' 1 ln7fR[IfnWI