330
along the rivers, which includes many trees such as Handroanthus heptaphylla,
Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Parapiptadenia rigida, and Peltophorum
dubium, mainly.
The climax of “Selvas Mixtas” has different strata: a herbaceous and muscinal
undergrowth, a layer of bamboos and shrubs and a tree stratum, where a layer of
lianas and epiphytes can be distinguished. In the tree stratum, there is an average
density of 482 trees per ha in a primary forest, and 66% are deciduous and semideciduous species.
The Alto Paraná Rainforest has been affected by intense logging. In the search
for the most valuable forest species, the entire rainforest of the Province of Misiones
has been explored and exploited. In most cases, this process has developed without
respecting the minimum concepts of sustainable use that would have preserved the
productive capacity of these forests (Milkovic 2012). This purely extractive action
has led to a permanent decrease in the volume and quality of the harvested timber.
Among the most required and exploited species due to their quality wood, we can
mention Cedrela fissilis, Araucaria angustifolia, Cordia trichotoma, Peltophorum
dubium, and Handroanthus heptaphylla (Tortorelli 2009).
The forest history in the Alto Paraná Rainforest also has an extractivist genesis,
which acquired greater emphasis in the 1920s, with the arrival of the main immigration streams. The immigrant settler became the social actor responsible for transforming natural borders into productive territories. During most of the twentieth
century, the rainforest was seen as a brake on progress. In the 1930s, since a local
industry was emerging, changes that influenced the productive organization of forestry activity at territorial level were introduced. At the end of that decade, Misiones
aimed to produce sawn timber and other derived products, still rustic, with native
wood. Around the production of these products, factories and worker’s villages
were installed (Scalerandi 2012). Subsequently, the native wood sawing industry
and forest camps declined with the degradation of the forest resources (Kraustofl
1991; Scalerandi 2012; Ramírez 2017).
The transition from a purely extractivist model to one with local basic industrialization fell within the broader framework of national change from the agro-export
model to the import substitution industrialization model, which, in the case of timber, was aimed at the provision of finished products and intermediate inputs to the
domestic market based on the development of forest resources. The forestryindustrial model extended from the middle of the twentieth century to the end of the
1980s and was part of the government developmental perspective. In this context, in
the Alto Paraná area, there was a continuous and persistent increase in forest plantations with industrial purpose, which substantially modified the landscape of the
Northwest of Misiones.
The impetus for the installation of the pulp industrial plants in Misiones was not
only due to the ecological conditions that led to the rapid growth of the implanted
species (the raw material for the pulp mills) but also to the developmental paradigms of that time. Forestry was perceived as more industrial than the agricultural
model, since industry was considered to generate more added value. Thus, more
jobs were invested in industrial projects as an engine of development.
L. F. Fornes
along the rivers, which includes many trees such as Handroanthus heptaphylla,
Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Parapiptadenia rigida, and Peltophorum
dubium, mainly.
The climax of “Selvas Mixtas” has different strata: a herbaceous and muscinal
undergrowth, a layer of bamboos and shrubs and a tree stratum, where a layer of
lianas and epiphytes can be distinguished. In the tree stratum, there is an average
density of 482 trees per ha in a primary forest, and 66% are deciduous and semideciduous species.
The Alto Paraná Rainforest has been affected by intense logging. In the search
for the most valuable forest species, the entire rainforest of the Province of Misiones
has been explored and exploited. In most cases, this process has developed without
respecting the minimum concepts of sustainable use that would have preserved the
productive capacity of these forests (Milkovic 2012). This purely extractive action
has led to a permanent decrease in the volume and quality of the harvested timber.
Among the most required and exploited species due to their quality wood, we can
mention Cedrela fissilis, Araucaria angustifolia, Cordia trichotoma, Peltophorum
dubium, and Handroanthus heptaphylla (Tortorelli 2009).
The forest history in the Alto Paraná Rainforest also has an extractivist genesis,
which acquired greater emphasis in the 1920s, with the arrival of the main immigration streams. The immigrant settler became the social actor responsible for transforming natural borders into productive territories. During most of the twentieth
century, the rainforest was seen as a brake on progress. In the 1930s, since a local
industry was emerging, changes that influenced the productive organization of forestry activity at territorial level were introduced. At the end of that decade, Misiones
aimed to produce sawn timber and other derived products, still rustic, with native
wood. Around the production of these products, factories and worker’s villages
were installed (Scalerandi 2012). Subsequently, the native wood sawing industry
and forest camps declined with the degradation of the forest resources (Kraustofl
1991; Scalerandi 2012; Ramírez 2017).
The transition from a purely extractivist model to one with local basic industrialization fell within the broader framework of national change from the agro-export
model to the import substitution industrialization model, which, in the case of timber, was aimed at the provision of finished products and intermediate inputs to the
domestic market based on the development of forest resources. The forestryindustrial model extended from the middle of the twentieth century to the end of the
1980s and was part of the government developmental perspective. In this context, in
the Alto Paraná area, there was a continuous and persistent increase in forest plantations with industrial purpose, which substantially modified the landscape of the
Northwest of Misiones.
The impetus for the installation of the pulp industrial plants in Misiones was not
only due to the ecological conditions that led to the rapid growth of the implanted
species (the raw material for the pulp mills) but also to the developmental paradigms of that time. Forestry was perceived as more industrial than the agricultural
model, since industry was considered to generate more added value. Thus, more
jobs were invested in industrial projects as an engine of development.
L. F. Fornes