Tree farm

When you drive around this part of Brazil, you can't help notice the odd tree lines. Here's why (and this is completely simplified and generalized!):
Much of the area was cleared of jungle rain forest back in the 1700s and 1800s to make room for cattle and coffee. Eucalyptus (a fast-growing tree native to Australia) was introduced to Brazil in the early 1900s. It grows really fast and supplies wood for timber, fiber and charcoal. There are a lot of eucalyptus farms across this region of Brazil and they are easy to spot because the trees are uniformly planted and are all the same size. It's a bit controversial.

Rainforest jungle has regrown in a lot of the cleared off areas. Peter has aerial photos of Natividade from 1955 that show a lot less jungle than there is now.

This photo was taken from the boat on the way to the sitio (farm) last week. Eucalyptus in the left center and jungle on the right center.