‘limans’ in the Negev

With the opening of a new road connecting Beersheba and Beit Qama in the Negev, the Jewish National Fund is initiating the planting of eucalyptus trees using the system of “limans.” “Limans” are created at sites where water gathers after rains. A small dam is constructed there to keep the water from running off, compelling it to form a pool and in subsequent weeks to seep into the ground thereby enabling trees to subsist where they could not manage on rainfall alone. The eucalyptus trees are an integral part of Eretz Yisrael history. At the turn of the century halutzim used to dry swamps by planting eucalyptus trees and turning them into fertile land.