To all who are knowledgable about acacias: Is it possible to harvest the bark sustainably and without killing the tree? I've been hearing bad things about rogue and rampant acacia ravaging in Australia (not just the tree in coschi's thread...). This doesn't sound like the way to establish a relationship with a Plant Teacher of whose soul we partake. :tear: Others agree. See the beginning of this thread: http://www.shaman-austra...dpost&pid=154135 and this thread: http://www.shaman-austra...ion/index.php?t8937.html There they say that [i:7e366df4e3]any[/i:7e366df4e3] bark stripping can severly injure the tree leading to its demise and suggest the obvious alternatives of only harvesting dead trees and/or fallen trees and branches e.g. after heavy winds. peace -z

I feel that if the death of a tree progresses into something so significant as 10 people opening their eyes for the first time, then the tree and plant teachers essence would be smiling. in these areas where the trees go wild there is an enormous presence of energy, i feel this as the plant teachers energy. This is where the plant teacher resides and through it's trees it speaks, taking a tree is a very head-first interaction with the plant teacher, but to be honest it doesn't feel like a bad one) obtusifolia is a weed in victoria, so.. (imo, this is no consolation to the killing of a tree, i'm just stating a fact) and as you mention, taking small amounts from more trees is not a good idea as removing any of the tree's trunk bark exposes it to disease and pest infestation etc.. you lower it's chances of survival, i think it's best to pick and choose and take the entire amount Plus we shall plant one for every one we take To be honest, i think if we're opening minds in mass amounts then the plant teachers would be proud of our efforts, and if done with respect and good intentions then they would condone the sacrifice one a tree -please note that i'm not talking about mass harvesting for personal gain on that note, i think there are far worse things going on with mimosa hostilis than there are with acacias

Hey guys, About killing trees. I think that you really have to kill a tree and get all the bark off the one tree. This way you are getting all the bark of the tree and not letting it go to waste. If you take a little bit of bark off ten trees you will probably find that quite a few get disease and can die anyway. The best thing to do is remove the bark as coschi has done. Later go back and get the top bark. Then with all the wood you have light a fire around where the base of the tree was. This will germinate all of the fallen seeds from the tree and provide nourishment for them as they grow. Fire is the natural way these trees reproduce. Take a visit to the site a few years later and you will find a lot more trees there than before. On the killing of the trees. I think if it is replaced it is ok and sustainable. The spirit of the tree will know why it has been used and if when you smoke you thank the tree it will be happy with that. People burn, cut and chop wood for furniture, building and all sorts of stuff with no thought to replacing the forests. How much wood do all of us have in our homes? Have you all replanted the wood we have in our homes? Surely someone who takes for DMT and then replaces is better than most on our planet? My two cents. Peace to all.

I agree that it seems to be better to strip one tree completely then to strip several trees partially because of disease and pests, and the fire thing sounds interesting, too, but what about these alternatives: 1) going to a known area after there have been heavy winds and looking for fallen trees and branches? 2) pruning several trees (maybe even heavily) and taking the bark only off the pruned parts? Coschi: in the other thread you mentioned your intention to replant, which would obviously be commendable, but it sounds like this isn't the first tree you've stripped and that you haven't replanted one yet...until you do, you're good intentions are only that... peace -z

[quote:3cb6d5c1ba="zhah"]Coschi: in the other thread you mentioned your intention to replant, which would obviously be commendable, but it sounds like this isn't the first tree you've stripped and that you haven't replanted one yet...until you do, you're good intentions are only that...[/quote:3cb6d5c1ba] Agreed, i owe 6, looking for place they'd like we may indeed have one though

Can Acacias not be coppiced or something similar?

...just replant 10 seedlings for every mature tree harvested ! Grow the seeds first, once they are big enough to plant, find new homes for them ! That is all Nature wants - she says "love, make more life, and look out for the little ones (ie the young life forms)" ... That's all we have to do, to have as much as we need of Nature's bounty.

Is there any reason not to chop down the tree from the start and then strip the bark instead of stripping the living tree and leaving it standing to slowly die? Don't know if it makes a difference to the tree, but it [i:f7d3eed2f9]seems[/i:f7d3eed2f9] like it might...thoughts? -z

Iwould go along with cutting down the tree totally first although I wonder what the difference in time is the tree takes to die? I dont think a totally fallen tree dies straight away either. In reality it could be one and the same.

I'd suspect in this case that a fallen tree and a debarked tree would pretty much die the same time. Personally I think it's nicer to leave the tree standing, rather than just left stripped lying on the ground (like a rape victim.. standing would say sacrifice) Plus, if you chop down a tree and strip it bare you'll be there for ages, there are LOTS of twigs and branches, it'd be a bitch to go that far. Taking the majority, then come back, like i said the tree let the rest of it's bark go and it can simply be picked off it with barely any effort. Plus that bark crumbles exceptionally well and is real easy to work with for extracting fourth, i'll definitely give that a shot and see how it goes