Forestry stamps

L. Boggia

Luigi Boggia, a member of the Italian Academy of Forestry Sciences and former assistant director-general of the Department of Mountain and Forest Economics of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, is an international expert on forestry and natural park postage stamps.

The world of forestry as reflected in its image on postage stamps.

The sixth of March 1840 is a date of historical importance, not only with regard to its impact on the world's postal services, but with regard to its economy and art: on that day the first adhesive postage stamp was issued - the famed "penny black", designed by Sir Rowland Hill and issued by the United Kingdom. As the use of postage stamps became more common, so did the habit of saving these gummed paper rectangles: by 1955, the Yvert and Tellier catalogue listed more than 108000 stamps, and today it numbers more than 262000 from 428 countries or territories. Although early collectors tended to be generalists, the rapidly increasing total number of issues soon spawned the concept of thematic collections.

Early forestry postage stamps

Although leaves and fronds were evident on some early stamps from Leghorn, Venice and Modena (today parts of Italy), it was not until 1881 that a tree - a Liberian palm - was used as the principal subject of a postage stamp. This was followed by other palm images from Samoa (1887), the Belgian Congo and Borneo (1894), and a breadfruit tree (Artocarpus incisa) on a one penny issue from Tonga. But the first forestry stamp must be considered the 1897 6c issue of the Post of Newfoundland (a British colony at the time) dedicated to the logger. Later, from 1918 to 1925, Mozambique issued a series of stamps covering the forest industry, rubber tapping and tannin extraction. In Europe, Iceland and Finland were the first countries to issue forestry postage stamps in 1930 - dedicated to fuelwood collection and logging operations, respectively.

Respect and concern for trees was promoted by the Postal Service of the United States for the first time on Arbour Day in 1932, and in 1935 the United States became the first nation to commemorate a historic tree on a postage stamp, with the issue of a 3c stamp portraying the "Constitution Oak", used by the framers of the United States Constitution to hide the original document when the Royalists tried to modify it in order to ensure the continued dominion of England over the colonies. Later in the same year, El Salvador issued a stamp commemorating the "Colony Oak", in the shadow of which 50 Spanish families had founded the city of St Vincent 300 years earlier.

After the Second World War

With the end of the Second World War, both the quantity and quality of forestry postage stamps accelerated rapidly. Advances in quality were driven by improvements in colour printing techniques as well as by the growing number of artists and engravers who chose the art of the postage stamp as their medium. Combined with an increasingly evident link between artists and technical experts, including research institutes and botanical gardens, the result has been an extraordinarily high level of technical validity. In fact, for their colour, perfect rendition, listing of common names and species, etc., contemporary forestry postage stamps often rival botanical texts. As evidenced by the Table, the number of forestry postage stamps makes any attempt at an exhaustive analysis futile; this article therefore examines how a number of specific forestry issues have been treated in postage stamps.

Forest utilization

Forest utilization is the subject of an extraordinary number of postage stamps, covering all the phases of activity: harvesting, clearing, transport, processing, stockpiling, replanting, etc. The transport of forest products has received particular attention: various images depict logs being floated downriver; passed over mountains via cableways; shifted by elephants; or loaded on to trucks and ships. End-uses of wood products are also amply covered, including construction, carpentry, fuelwood and charcoal, railway construction, pulp and paper, matches, furniture, sculpture, etc. In fact, the number is so large that it excludes any consideration of an exhaustive list of the countries that have dedicated and continue to dedicate attention to the wise use and conservation of the forests. However, the series of six stamps issued in 1975 by the Central African Republic must be considered the best example of all those covering forest harvesting and transport. A 1987 series of four stamps, issued by Ghana, is also noteworthy for its treatment of end-uses of forest products.

Forest protection

Nearly all aspects of forest protection are covered in the world of postage stamps. A 1969 issue by the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam depicts the control of insect infestations with hand-sprayers. A Bulgarian stamp, dated 1957, shows pest control with aerial-sprayers; a Polish issue of 1977 illustrates a similar effort. However, with the growing understanding of the delicate balance among various forms of life in the forest ecosystem, not all efforts are dedicated to the elimination of insects. In fact, another series of 12 Polish stamps, printed in 1962, emphasized the need to protect useful insects, including the red ant (Formica rufa).

Of course, one of the principal concerns of forest managers in many areas is the control of forest fire. Before 1970 there were very few forestry stamps dedicated to this theme; perhaps the oldest example is a 1958 issue by the Federal Republic of Germany showing carbonized trunks under the inscription, "Prevent forest fire". Another early issue is the 1962 Swaziland stamp depicting a fire watch-tower in a pine plantation. In 1969 the German Democratic Republic issued a series of four stamps dedicated to forest protection, each bearing the image of the squirrel, which is the mascot of the forest fire prevention service. Similarly, the image of Smokey the Bear graced fire prevention stamps issued by the United States in 1984. In a succinct, if perhaps limited, vision of the issue, a series of six stamps issued by Honduras in 1970 bears the inscription, "Smoke and ashes have no export value". No discussion on the control of forest fire would be complete without a reference to the world-famous Canadair: the fire-fighting airplane appears on the stamps of several countries, most recently on those issued by the Republic of Djibouti (1984) and Yugoslavia (1987).

Forestry postage stamps issued in 1970 and 1990, by continent and subject

Region/ organization	No. of issuing countries	Trees		Forests		Understorey vegetation		Afforestation		Forest protection and research		Uses of wood and forest industry		Other		Total
		1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990	1970	1990
Europe	38	44	132	96	160	66	147	20	25	33	54	29	54	27	43	315	615
Asia	35	32	104	20	46	5	5	37	72	16	31	20	44	9	13	139	315
Africa	64	36	179	25	47	3	11	4	52	10	36	29	69	4	16	111	410
North America	3	7	31	11	28	7	8	3	4	2	12	6	8	2	3	38	94
Latin America	34	39	112	9	47	4	8	2	10	3	27	15	26	6	9	78	239
Oceania	21	18	54	7	23	1	1	1	4	1	11	11	20	2	3	41	116
United Nations					6				2	2	2		2			2	12
Total	195	176	612	168	357	86	180	67	169	67	173	110	223	50	87	724	1801

One of the most recent concerns regarding forest protection is the potential damage caused by atmospheric pollution or acid rain. This theme is taken up, among others, by two 1985 issues; one by Austria and another by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Tree-planting is also a theme of longstanding duration in postage stamps. Reforestation statistics are provided in stamps issued by Romania in 1963, France in 1965 and Hungary in 1976 (citing a million hectares of replanting). The forestry belt established in the southwestern portion of the USSR to protect agricultural crops is commemorated in a stamp issued as early as 1947, as part of a series promoting reforestation.

Forestry stamps

Forestry services

The keepers of the forest are remembered on stamps issued by many countries. National forestry services are commemorated in stamps issued by Finland and Sweden (1959); Norway (1962); Italy, on its 150th anniversary in 1984; Austria, for 50 years of service (1975); Suriname, for 25 years (1972); and the Philippines (1950) for 15 years of service.

In this vein, one issue that merits particular note for its high quality is the four-stamp series produced by Guyana in 1975 on the centenary of the founding of the Forestry Society. Similarly, postage stamps commemorate the centenary of a number of national forest associations India (1961), Hungary (1966), Japan (1981) - and universities - Turkey (1957) and Austria (1967).

The forest as an ecosystem

The development of the concept of the forest not simply as a collection of trees but as an ecosystem, has been paralleled in the images on forestry stamps, which increasingly depict a combination of flora and fauna species instead of a single example. The first stamps to take this approach must be considered forerunners of their time the 1903 Madagascar edition, picturing "the traveller's tree" (Ravenala madagascariensis), sheltering a zebu (Bos indicus); and the series of 13 stamps issued by Australia in 1937, showing a koala bear (Phascolarctus genus) clinging tightly to the branches of a eucalyptus.

More recently, the ecosystem concept has become more common. Two examples worthy of mention are the 1979 series of ten stamps by the Republic of San Marino, depicting, inter alia, an American cherry tree (Cornus florida rubra) with a raccoon (Procion rotor), and the baobab (Adansonia digitata) with the African elephant (Loxodonta africana); and the 1985 series issued by Bophuthatswana, portraying the interrelationships of birds, mammals and insects within the forest ecosystem.

Historic trees

As noted in the introduction, one of the early forestry images on postage stamps was that of individual trees of historic note for their size, longevity, political significance, etc. This practice has been continued to the present. Worthy of mention are issues commemorating the Plane tree of Hippocrates (Greece, 1959); Rogalin's Oak (Poland, 1966); the sacred Pagoda Fig or Boo Tree (Laos, 1956); and the Tree of the Virgin (United Arab Republic, 1967). Perhaps the most curious is the 1974 stamp issued by the Niger to mark the first anniversary of the death of the " Tree of the Ténéré", an acacia that was such an important landmark on the I salt trail across the desert of the Tuareg that it was indicated on maps of the area

Historic foresters

A number of stamps also pay tribute to individuals. Axel Heiberg, founder of the Norwegian Forestry Society, was the first forester to be immortalized on a stamp which was issued in 1948 to celebrate the first 50 years of the society and the 100th anniversary of its founder's birth. In 1964 the face of the naturalist John Muir, set against a background of his beloved sequoias, was featured on a stamp issued by the United States. The date commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of the original advocate of the American system of national parks. Most recently, in 1968, the Romanian postal service dedicated a stamp to Ion Ionesco, considered the first Romanian silviculturalist.

Historic moments

The ten World Forestry Congresses held to date have been marked by commemorative postage stamps from many countries: in total some 30 stamps have been issued since the third congress (none were produced for the first two). In particular, the Fifth World Forestry Congress, held in Seattle, Washington in 1960, resulted in the publication of 15 new stamps issued by seven different territories and the United Nations. The French postal service's special issue for the Tenth World Forestry Congress, held in September 1991, depicts a forest surrounded by a series of drawings of the many products and benefits it provides.

The forestry postage stamp index

The relationship between countries and the number and type of postage stamps they issue gives another meaning to the statistics shown in the Table. As the coefficient of forest cover, expressed as a relationship between the land under forest cover and the total land surface of a given area, can be used to identify an initial summary notion of the area's soil and water conditions, the relationship between the number of forestry postage stamps and the total number of postage stamps issued by a given country or territory can be seen as an indication of the importance attributed to the popularization of forestry issues. And underlying this, there is an indication of the overall scientific and economic importance of forestry. Of course, given the number of factors affecting the index (the total number of postage stamps issued over time, the total volume of postage stamps issued per year, the importance of postage stamps as a revenue-generating mechanism for the issuing country, etc), it must not be viewed as being statistically significant.

To maximize the positive impact of forestry postage stamps on popular awareness and concern, the effort of governments in producing these stamps must be matched by that of collectors in sharing their "treasures" with a wider public. Collectors specializing in forestry stamps in each country should ensure that travelling exhibits be mounted and presented in conventions, trade shows, round tables, televised events and, above all, schools to promote the forestry education of young people to whom responsibility for the forest patrimony will fall in the future. Only in this way will these tiny yet precious images realize their full constructive potential.

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