Karabucak Forest is a forest plantation in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Geography

The forest is at the south of Tarsus city in

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of fo ...

. The center of the forest is at about . The distance to Tarsus is and to

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

is . There are two sections in the forest. In the older section called ''Güresin'' forest

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

''(Eucalyptus camaldulensis)'' has been planted and in the newer section called '' Turan Emeksiz,'' stone pine (''Pinus pinea'') and

maritime pine ''Pinus pinaster'', the maritime pine or cluster pine, is a pine native to the south Atlantic Europe region and parts of the western Mediterranean. It is a hard, fast growing pine bearing small seeds with large wings. Description ''Pinus pinast ...

(''Pinus pinaster'') have been planted Coastal Planning report, p.19
/ref> along with a few other species (Güresin was the surname of Fehmi Güresin, the engineer in charge of the project back in 1939 and Turan Emeksiz was the name of a forestry engineering student killed in 1960.)

History

During the

ancient age Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

s, Tarsus was a

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

port. But because of alluvial deposits from the

Berdan River The Berdan (also Baradān or Baradā), the ancient Cydnus ( el, Κύδνος), is a river in Mersin Province, south Turkey. The historical city of Tarsus is on the river and it is therefore sometimes called the Tarsus River. Originally the water ...

the coastline was continuously moving to south. By the 6th century, the coastline had already been moved away and a small lagoon named ''Rhegma'' had been formed which obstructed the river flow in the rainy seasons and caused floods.

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

(reigned 527-565) had a channel constructed at the east of the city to facilitate easier flow. (present watercourse of the river). After 7th century the lake was partially dried up and turned into marshes. But because of the marshes, the number of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

cases increased sharply. In 1939, the

Turkish government The Government of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükûmeti) is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party ...

(ministry of forestry) started a project to drain the marshes. Eucalyptus trees were planted on 885 hectare area and the marshes were totally drained. In 1960s the forest was further enlarged by covering the coastal band. Pine was preferred in the coastal band.

Karabucak today

The marsh has been drained and the sands movement at the coast has been checked. The forest in addition to being a source of revenue, is now a popular picnic area for Tarsus citizens.

References

{{Mersin Province Geography of Mersin Province Eucalyptus Forests of Turkey