Water, water everywhere . . . .
Most people are aware of the seminal role that trees play in balancing the salinity problem.
The problem resulting from the removal of trees causing the water table to rise and to bring with it all the salts stored in the soil, thereby causing salt scalds on the ground surface, is not new. The solution to this problem is to plant more trees in the recharge area, to help lower the water table, and if we can plant trees that can be harvested on a sustainable rotation to produce high value timber products then all the better. More recent controversy over plantations and water has revolved around trees using too much water in the drier zones. Local communities are concerned that trees are harvesting more than their fair share of water from an area thereby causing less water to be available for more traditional agricultural crops and for the communities themselves. Intensive measurements taken over several years indicated that plantations extracted water only from the soil profile, and did not access ground water.