Re: Pines of Jalisco

["Arturo Ramos" <arturo.ramos2@...>]

Ed/Alberto:

As an aside, the Mexican presidential mansion in Chapultepec is 
called "Los Pinos"

I too recall reading about the heavy logging that occured in the 
Sierra de Mixton near Tlaltenango early on and I know that today this 
is one of the central problems that the Wirrarika (Huichol) have with 
incursion on their lands... illegal logging.  The Sierra Huichol is 
perhaps one of the few dense forests left in the area... largely 
because of inaccessability.

Also, as another aside... the currently mainstream reason for the 
collpse of Maya civilaztion is deforestation.  The population had 
grown so dense that vast parts of the Yucatan and Guatemala were 
cleared for agriculture leading to all sorts of ecological problems 
which eventually led to catastrophe and the abandonment of the cities.

So the Spanish were not the only ones who were careless with natural 
resources.

The U.S. lumber industry is heavily pushing U.S.-style residential 
construction in Mexico in hopes that it will raise demand for U.S. 
produced lumber.  Currently most construction in Mexico is concrete 
and block, as opposed to wood framing.

Canada is actually the number one destination of U.S. wood products, 
though on a net basis we are an importer of wood products from 
Canada, but a lot of U.S. wood crossed the border for processing, etc.

Japan is number two and so far this year, China has overtaken Mexico 
for the number three position:

In millions of US Dollars

         fy03  fy04 ytd04 ytd05
Canada  1,216 1,328 1,005 1,042   3.7%
Japan     582   648   486   424 -12.8% 
Mexico    315   362   269   294   9.4% 
China     208   306   234   312  33.6% 


--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, Alberto Duarte <albertodua@y...> 
wrote:
>
> Not surprisingly, Mexico is one of the two biggest
> customers for our forest products.  Japan, I believe
> is number one.
> 
> Alberto Duarte
> Santa Maria, California
> 
> --- Edward Serros <ed@s...> wrote:
> 
> > Arturo,
> > 
> > In my readings on Mexico, I have been impressed with
> > the deforestation of the ranchos 
> > areas and farther north. All of this excessive
> > deforestation may partly account for the 
> > present "low yield" nature of the land, not that it
> > was real good anyway. It reminds me of 
> > the cedars of Lebanon, which used to cover Lebanon.
> > Now Lebanon has nothing to speak 
> > of since most, if not all, of the trees were used in
> > various projects, including ship-
> > building, centuries ago. Any comments?
> > 
> > Our Spanish ancestors had only one thing in mind
> > sometimes: gold. Unfortunately, the 
> > environmental impact may have been huge and
> > deleterious.
> > 
> > Oh yeah, our Spanish ancestors had another thing on
> > their mind: women.
> > 
> > Ed
> > 
> > --- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Arturo Ramos"
> > <arturo.ramos2@v...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Joseph et al:
> > > 
> > > I have been working on a lumber case for the past
> > four years and know 
> > > way more that I ever cared to know about species
> > of trees, so when I 
> > > saw your question I got curious.  I know from
> > having been in Jalisco 
> > > that the mountainous areas are a mix of coniferous
> > and deciduous 
> > > forests, and that the plains are grasslands but
> > this gives all of the 
> > > details of the extent of those ecoregions as well
> > as the actual 
> > > species that grow there.  Pinus Montezumae... cool
> > name... also known 
> > > as Ocote as in Ocotlan, Jalisco (which literally
> > means the place of 
> > > Montezuma pines).
> > > 
> > > "Pine forests in Mexico grow at elevations of
> > 2,275-2,600 m and are 
> > > composed mainly of Pinus montezumae."
> > > 
> > >
> >
> http://www.vivanatura.org/Maps%20Mexican%20ecosystems.html
> > > 
> > > The following website from Semarnat (Secretariat
> > of Environment and 
> > > Natural Reources) gives more details on all the
> > major commericalized 
> > > plant species in Mexico:
> > > 
> > > http://www.semarnat.gob.mx/pfnm/amplia.html
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 	
> 		
> __________________________________ 
> Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>