Yatir Forest
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Yatir Forest is a forest in Israel, located on the southern slopes of Mount Hebron, in the Yatir region. The forest covers an area of 30,000 dunams (30 square kilometers), and is the largest forest in Israel. The first trees of the forest were planted in 1964 by the Jewish National Fund, which continues to expand it as of 2006. It is named after the ancient Levi city within its territory, Yatir, as written in the Old Testement: "And unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs, and Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs" (Book of Joshua, chapter 21, verses 13-14).
The forests is composed of more than four million trees, mostly coniferous trees - Jerusalem Pine and Cypress. It also includes many broad leafed trees (such as Atlantic Terebinth, Tamarisk, Jujube, and Carob), Olive, Fig, Eucalyptus and Acacia, vineyards and various shrubs.
The forest is situated in a relatively high altitude (between 400 and 850 metres above sea level), in a semi-arid region, where the average yearly rainfall is 250-275 mm, and humidity is low. The ground is composed of hard lime rocks, and soft chalk rocks.
Within the forest are several archeological sites, such as Anim Ruins and Yatir Ruins. The forest is also the focus of research to determine the forest's relationship with its environment. The research is led by Prof. Dan Yakir of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with researchers from several other institutes. This research is also a part of the NASA project FLUXNET, a global network of micrometeorological tower sites used to measure the exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy between terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere.
