Mail by Runner 119: Trees of Solukhumbu

Solukhumbu has all sorts of incredible flora and fauna, but an essential species in the ecology is the Blue Pine or Himalayan Pine (Pines Wallichiana) which form the canopy of much of the Himalayan forests and grow up to 4,300m. They're an important tree for providing building timber, firewood and needles for compost/fertiliser.

These photos show blue pine, himalayan birch and rhododendron at the Khumbu Bijuli Company nursery in Thame and the old Himalayan Trust Nursery at Phurte. 

Tree planting has rapidly declined in Solukhumbu after the Himalayan Trust's prolific project which saw 4 million trees planted in the National Park. Today only small planting projects are conducted.