It is unimaginable the amount of destruction that the human species is capable of imposing on other species and habitats in the current day, simply under the one guise of “I have to feed my family.” Laws sometimes exist to “protect” species, but many times these laws have loopholes or go unenforced. This phenomenon is embodied in the case of the alerce in Chile (Fitzroya cupressoides), which is the second longest living species on Earth after the bristlecone pine and lives up to about 3000-4000 years old in temperate forests in Chile and Argentina. In human terms, 3500 years is forty-four complete human lifetimes if the average person lives until 80 years old, or 140 generations if there is a new generation on average every 25 years. Thus the alerce does not die; it is killed. Under that backdrop the species is on the IUCN red list for species with a high risk of extinction; it is projected that within several decades the alerce in Chile
Once I was explained the dire economics of an alerce this way: If an alerce sapling started with a value of $1, and as an investment its value grew by 1% each year, in 3500 years it would be worth approx $1,000,000,000,000,000. But because alerce wood is precious but not that valuable, without any other value other than its economic value you would cut down the tree immediately to make profit. But obviously the trees have value beyond their wood, which is why the government or environmentalists, such as Douglas Tompkins, step in to protect them. There are enough people willing to exploit and kill the 3000 year old species that they are in extreme risk of extinction. Campesinos will say it is so that they can afford bread for their families… although the reality may be a flat screen tv. Acknowledging the value beyond the economics is where the law steps in, making the alerce a natural monument and prohibiting in Supreme Decree 490/1976 logging of the alerce. However, the law also states that naturally fallen trees or trees killed by fire before 1976 may be exploited, making it difficult if not impossible to distinguish in the market legally logged wood from that trafficked.
Alerce trees can grow up to fifty meters high and be 3-4 meters in diameter, which is an impressive size but it does it at an unbelievably slow rate; the trunk grows approximately one centimeter every 15-20 years. The wood is highly valued as it is resistant to rot and insects, and is famous for being used for the construction of churches and houses on the island of Chiloe
With scientific instruments a study involving 600,000 cubic meters of alerce found that 2/3 had died after 1976. However, dozens of products made with the wood are easy to find. Everything from knitting needles to carved figurines to earrings, to wall hangings, to roofs and to churches; in certain areas the wood is everywhere. If one asks a vender about products made of alerce they will invariably say that it was legally harvested from a fallen tree, even though it is highly possible that that is not the case. Buying products made of alerce continues this illegal trade of logging alerce albeit not intentionally, so it is of utmost importance that one does not buy support the market. In fact, alerce is one of the few vegetative species protected under the Endangered Species Act, and its importation into the United States
Clearly adaptability is not an advantage to this species, which is essentially unrenewable due to the duration of its life cycle and the stopping of its regrowth in highly exploited areas. I find it remarkable that humans are capable of killing an organism that has lived for over 3000 years so quickly and without much thought, as if it were a eucalyptus planted several years back. Once an alerce is cut down or burned a 3000-4000 year old history is lost, one which is helping to map temperature change in South America . Decree 490 is significant and symbolic for what it attempts to do, but creating a legal market for any selling of the wood is counter-productive because of its difficulty to enforce. We are taught to respect our elders and the environment, yet a species with specimen that survived over 4000 years old is likely to become extinct during my lifetime. Alerce wood would never fetch $1 x 10^15… but regardless the tree has far greater value alive than the price paid for the precious wood.
Alerce: Natural Monument. Its cutting is prohibited. PROTECT IT. Chile.
A large, ancient alerce. Alerces may live up to 4000 years, but due to the illegal extraction they are likely to become extinct within the next several decades. Whereas the law theoretically protects the species, due to loopholes it is difficult to enforce.
