A forest is nothing other than a wide space covered
with trees. There are forests that have been planted
by man and others where the trees have grown up without
any human intervention, like the ancient forests that
once covered all Lebanon. Sometimes dunes, moving
sands, are planted and converted into forest, like
the pine forest of Beirut. Here are coast-growing
pines, also called Aleppo pines, with a tall trunk
and branches spreading in the form of an umbrella.
On
the southwestern side of Ashrafiyeh pointing to the
south is a great stretch of sand a large part of which
has been wooded since the 18th and 19th centuries,
the time of the emirs of the house of Shehab, and
more particularly since the time of the mutassarif
governors. The latter were mostly Europeans and wished
to develop, urbanize, build schools and hospitals
and orphanages, lay down roads, plant, set up, irrigate,
and so on.
In
1868, under the Mutassarif Franco Basha, a great campaign
of re-forestation was launched in Lebanon, with trees
planted along the sides of the roads. Some of the
trees were fruit trees, while others were simply of
the woodland kind. Forest wardens were installed to
look after the forest, to prevent people cutting down
trees and to prevent goatherds from allowing their
flocks to graze in the parts where the seedlings were
still young. Further, seeds of trees were distributed
with encouragement for people to plant them.
In
Beirut itself there is a wide stretch of land called
The Sands, where there is a prison of that name. Another
section, one planted with trees, is next to the Race
Course and the Residence of the French Ambassador
known as the Pines Palace. At present this forest
is carefully looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture
and by other authorities and here the planting of
saplings goes on without interruption. During the
recent troubles, many of the trees were damaged, burnt
or even reduced to ashes by the fire. But now Beirut
Forest has found again its former freshness, beauty
and pleasant views.
Beirut
Pines Forest is now a great public park drawing the
crowds, a green space inside the capital, such as
one may see in many of the great cities of the world.
The pine, or the fir tree, is compared to the parish
priest’s wife, for if one cuts off the head of a pine,
the tree dies, and if the wife of the priest dies,
the poor man is not allowed by canon law to marry
again. Beirut Forest is surrounded by highways on
all sides and so can be easily reached from anywhere.
It is centrally situated so one can take walks there
and feel oneself in the heart of nature. One may always
see the horses of the Race Course trotting alongside
the trees.
The
Forest is run by the Beirut Municipality. At one time
it stretched to Badaro on one side and bordered the
sea on the other, at Ramlet el-Baida. It covered 1,
300,000 square meters but today one may see how in
1982 it was reduced to a mere 320,000 square meters
during the sad violent disturbances and by the Israeli
invasion, which destroyed some 90%, leaving the tree
burnt, scorched and broken. In 1990 a competition
was organized to carry out renewed planting.
It
used to be believed that it was the seventeenth-century
Emir Fakhreddine II who had created the forest, for
there had been swamps there. But according to William
of Tyre, in the twelfth century the Francs had used
the wood for the beams of their siege machines, so
it was called the wood quarry of Beirut (sapinoir).
The Forest still protects the town against sands drifting
in with the winds from the south-west. It is now called
the Pine Forest.
Now
it has been twinned with the Ile de France region,
famous for its arrangement of natural sites, before
concrete completely overwhelms the city. A time came
when Mocadem wanted to take precautionary measures
to protect the zone before it suffered any further
disfigurement, with young seedlings torn up, the ground
covered with rubbish, and footpaths needing repair
– leaving the public free to wander over public land
without any supervision can be very harmful to the
forest.
For
Lamartine, this was the place of his dreams. At present
new kinds of forest trees other than pines are being
planted, and an appropriate fauna introduced – hyena,
wild boar, jackal, tortoise, and so on, while already
there exists a great variety of birds. Now clumps
of trees and stretches of grass are irrigated, so
the Forest can now breathe and live in harmony with
the town.
William
MATAR - Translation from the French: Kenneth Mortimer
-
The
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