Originally Posted by sabang

I've driven thru' Prachinburi several times, on my way up to Ubon. The massive eucalypt plantations are the monoculture in a sizable area, you might as well be in Australia. They grow fast and straight, they are well tough and no doubt a profitable wood to grow. But it stuffs up the immediate area for any other form of agriculture. Eucalypts suck out water from the ground like nobodys business, the more they get the faster they grow. In a dryer area, such as large parts of Isaan, they'll take the water table down- I do hope they're very cautious about introducing it up there unless they want to eat gum leaves instead of rice.

I hope they've trained their people also in forestry management such as firebreaks and fire control- if that place goes up in flames it won't be nice.