Rosh HaAyin Forest is a forest and green area located in the northeastern part of Rosh HaAyin, Israel, along the tributary of Nahal Rabba.

History

The forest was planted by the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

between 1976 and 1980 and hosts eucalyptus, pine,

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

carob The carob ( ; ''Ceratonia siliqua'') is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landscap ...

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

, common jujube, woodland and orchard trees. Its area is . It is near new city neighborhoods. Several forest archaeological sites, including Eben-Ezer, which is identified with the Biblical village of Ebenezer and Khirbet al-Daooir, are located there. Remains of an ancient settlement are there, next to which stood the "Ilan Lookout" overlooking Nahal Rabba, Samaria and Road 5.

KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subsequ ...

and the city of Rosh HaAyin in 2001 neglected the forest and it was used as an illegal waste dump. Cultivation commenced in 2006 and landscape restoration was carried out. The forest was adopted by two elementary schools using "Afek School of Sustainability". It is defined by JNF as a "community forest".

Access

The forest has one entrance for vehicles and additional entrances for pedestrians or cyclists. Hiking and biking trails are marked. The main entrance to vehicles is from Kibbutz Galuyot Street. A circular path passes through a variety of flowers and reaches the observation point at the top of the hill in Khirbet a-Dwyer. Another part of the forest is in the northern part of the Hill Hill neighborhood. In this part is archeological site Izbet Tzarta. The entrance to this section is from the end of Natan Shaul Street and from there ascends the Auxiliary Stone Trail that reaches the summit where the archeological site and explanatory signs are located. Another pedestrian entrance is in the military neighborhood of Neve Afek on Keshet Street.

Flora

The Rosh HaAyin forest, the path of wildflowers and the fields that surround them, are known for their flowering at the end of winter and spring. Anemones are found in red and white and blue in the forest and surrounding fields, and on the hill of the wildflower trail, cyclamen bloom. In the flowering fields, yellow-rooted spotted flowers thrive. In the spring, a wide variety of flowers in the forest, including anemones, tulips,

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

s, and

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s. are found to be blooming profusely.

Gallery

References

{{reflist Forests of Israel