Is Mahogany the Answer?

Is Mahogany the Answer?

True Mahogany or “Genuine Mahogany” is of the Swietenia genus.  The Khaya genus is “close enough” however Shorea genus or Philippine Mahogany comprises unrelated woods bearing only the label “Mahogany”.  Having said that Genuine Mahogany is probably one of the best choices for reforesting the country but not as a "lone ranger".  Yes there are about 70 other species of tree that are considered indigenous and therefore considered to be a better choice.  I simply ask, have you ever tried to grow the indigenous species?  If you have I think that you are open to growing the easy-to-grow True Mahogany.

One Species

Genuine Mahogany, Swietenia macrophylla.   From The Wood Database", saved
from Craig Bialick.  As a fast growing tree in the tropics this amount of growth
is realized in less than 90 years.

Not one species is the  real answer.   Although and typically those who habitually plan reforestation projects do settle on one species and their intent is to grow as many of those trees as is possible so that a mono-crop forest develops for its commercial value.  Nearly all trees were never engineered by Mother Nature to grow in the forest all by themselves.  Unfortunately we tend to look at reforestation merely as the growing of a crop or stand of trees that we are growing for the specific purpose of cutting down. 

Biodiversity 

Biodiversity has not been part of the typical reforestation plan.  Biodiversity is what existed before the original forest was removed for whatever reason.  To replace biodiversity with only one species is what should be the issue rather than whether or not a particular species is favorable or not, and favorable to whom?  

We know how beneficial biodiversity is in the forest but for some reason that same logic is lost when complaining about the results of mono-cropping the forest while focusing on spurious issues about endemic or indigenous.  Make biodiversity and sustainability the issue and that is something which you can hang your hat.

Eight men stand across the with of a Mahogany Tree in Cayo, Belize

Sustainability 

Sustainability and biodiversity are excellent partners while mono-cropping, regardless of the species, is not only singularity in practice it is not sustainable on behalf of Mother Nature, while one might argue that the commercial value can be sustained, but without diversity the value is hollow and in the end more costly than beneficial. 

The Sustainable Cycled

When we plan a forest for a thirty-five year cycle and we grow it to have biodiversity it is sustainable and beneficial to the point that Mother Nature sings her praises and rewards the forest with its own new abundance that complements the local community.

The photographs of the majestic True Mahogany on this page reveal how it looks when standing inside the forest as a part of a sustainable bio-diverse forest.

 Imagine

If you reforested 100 hectares using sustainable and bio-diverse practices your great-grandchildren would enjoy inside your legacy forest one majestic true mahogany tree on each hectare.  Imagine 100 of them each surrounded by hundreds of smaller ones and hundreds of other species of trees all producing something of value on a regular and sustainable basis.  Also, imagine that the trees are all living and as part of the living cycle in the forest are responding to the gratitude of Mother Nature.  What a community partner, imagine that!  It is feasible.

For the Skeptics

If you travel the Philippines along the national highways you will notice a particular species of large palm tree off in the distance.  It is called the Buri.  If you are in doubt as to which tree it is just ask and the knowledgeable one among your group will point them out to you.  There is no shortage of them.  Once you know how to look for them you will begin to notice that many of them appear to be dead but still standing.  In fact they are dead, most likely.  See they blossom only once in their lives and that is after they achieve the ripe old age of 80+ years; it is then that they die.  At that point you shift your attention to counting how many dead Buri that you are seeing and you are amazed, but after all there are many more living Buri trees along the same ride.  If you were to cut one dead Buri per year you would never run out of them.  Sometimes, we must first plant, wait, then harvest judiciously and sustainably from a bio-diverse forest.  Imagine that the Buri were instead majestic Genuine Mahogany.  See, it is feasible.