Cork oak trees, S. Spain

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Cork oak trees, S. Spain

The bark is stripped off and used as cork.

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Huh, I remember learning at some point that removing bark around the entire perimeter of a tree interrupts water flow and eventually kills the tree. Is that only some trees then? Or was I totally misinformed?

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Same! Digging into this wiki says (with source):

Typically, once it reaches 25 years old, its thick bark can be harvested for cork every 9 to 12 years without causing harm to the tree.[4]

The source is a Rainforest Alliance article from 2024: https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/species/cork-oak/

Cork oak is unique in its ability to regenerate its outer bark. After a tree reaches 25 years of age, it can be stripped of its cork once every 9 to 12 years without causing damage to the tree. A single cork oak, which lives up to 200 years, can be harvested over 16 times.

Cool thing I learned: harvested cork oak stores 5x as much carbon as unharvested. Get that cork!

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Depends on the tree species, technically the only living part of a tree trunk is a thin layer of material right under the visible bark. If you go around and expose the wood in a circle around the trunk the tree will die, but I guess if you’re careful the bark can be harvested without harming the tree.

Disclaimer: I am not an arborist, this is just my recollectio of an explanation I got several years ago.

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Brr cold. Get those trees a jacket! 😉

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Is this a cork plantation of sorts, and the trees planted for that purpose, or is it just people/businesses taking advantage of the local fauna?

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Thank you, and I was just curious really, if cork plantations are a thing, in Spain.

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They are, and many of them have existed for centuries. Most cork now is probably synthetic, but there are still some places where people harvest cork.

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OP

I didn’t seem like a plantation. We were hiking a trail and kept coming across them. Sometimes one, sometimes a bunch. I think they’re scattered throughout the forest and some people have rights to certain areas.

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