Introduction of tropical pines was a path-breaking trend in Indian forestry. It was driven by huge increase in demand of paper and pulp in the country which led to the search for fast growing species with long fibre.

Some 15 years ago, pine-covered hillsides were the typical images of Karsog in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district. But pine provided little fodder for cattle. People in its villages preferred

A chronic lung disease

The paper describes the effect of rains on vegetal cover, different traditional practices and soil properties in the dry and monsoon period. Seven landuse systems i.e. open pine forests, tea plantation, rainfed agriculture, degraded land, grassland, recently restored site and a bare land were identified in the Bhetagad watershed of the Central Himalaya.

Pine culture has altered the Himalayan landscape with disastrous effect on its fragile ecology

according to recent reports, the mountain pine beetle epidemic in Canada threatens around us $3.81 billion in lumber in British Columbia's forests. Eight million hectares of lodgepole pine

A forest fire destroyed 121 hectares of pine forest in Bhutan's Thimphu district. Forest officials say that the fire started in an apple orchard where a 17-year-old schoolboy was burning papers. Due

YET another instance of mindless destruction of forests: a pine forest, specially grown at a cost of Rs 10 lakh a decade ago, will be razed to make way for a VIP, complex close to the Raj Bhawan

Militancy has destroyed much more than peace in Kashmir. Kalashnikov trotting extremists are ravaging the last green frontiers of the 'heaven on earth'. Even the Army is accused of active complicity. Eco vandalism has certainly emerged as a lucrative deal

While the world is talking about scope of biofuel in combating soaring oil prices, a youth of Palpa district ran a motorcycle using oil he refined from pine resin as fuel on Sunday.
Keshav Karki, a resident of Jarepipal, collected resin produced by pine trees and refined into oil through steam distillation.

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