מילים חדשות · 4

In the 1950s, the young State of Israel had a plan for the Hula Valley in the north of the country. The valley held a lake and large areas of wetland, full of birds, fish and plants. But it was also home to mosquitoes that spread malaria, and the country needed land for farming. So engineers built canals and drained the lake. By 1958, the water was gone, and the drying of the Hula was celebrated as a national success.

However, the success did not last. Without the water, many kinds of fish, birds and plants disappeared from the area. The dry earth turned out to be poor for farming: it was blown away by the wind, and in summer parts of it even caught fire under the ground. In addition, dirty water from the valley flowed into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest source of fresh water.

A small part of the wetland had been saved. In 1964 it became the Hula Nature Reserve, the first nature reserve in Israel. But the real change came in the 1990s, when the government decided to correct its mistake. Part of the valley was flooded again, and a small new lake, Agamon Hula, was created.

The birds came back almost at once. Israel lies on one of the world's busiest routes for birds that fly between Europe, Asia and Africa, and the Hula Valley has become one of the most important stops on that route. Every winter, tens of thousands of cranes stay in the valley. To stop them from eating crops in the fields, farmers and nature workers feed them corn, and visitors come from all over the world to watch them.

The story of the Hula is now taught as a lesson in how humans treat nature. It shows that we cannot always see the results of our actions at the time. It also shows that some mistakes can be fixed, at least partly, if we are willing to admit them.

In the 1950s, the young State of Israel had a plan for the Hula Valley in the north of the country. The valley held a lake and large areas of wetland, full of birds, fish and plants. But it was also home to mosquitoes that spread malaria, and the country needed land for farming. So engineers built canals and drained the lake. By 1958, the water was gone, and the drying of the Hula was celebrated as a national success.

However, the success did not last. Without the water, many kinds of fish, birds and plants disappeared from the area. The dry earth turned out to be poor for farming: it was blown away by the wind, and in summer parts of it even caught fire under the ground. In addition, dirty water from the valley flowed into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest source of fresh water.

A small part of the wetland had been saved. In 1964 it became the Hula Nature Reserve, the first nature reserve in Israel. But the real change came in the 1990s, when the government decided to correct its mistake. Part of the valley was flooded again, and a small new lake, Agamon Hula, was created.

The birds came back almost at once. Israel lies on one of the world's busiest routes for birds that fly between Europe, Asia and Africa, and the Hula Valley has become one of the most important stops on that route. Every winter, tens of thousands of cranes stay in the valley. To stop them from eating crops in the fields, farmers and nature workers feed them corn, and visitors come from all over the world to watch them.

The story of the Hula is now taught as a lesson in how humans treat nature. It shows that we cannot always see the results of our actions at the time. It also shows that some mistakes can be fixed, at least partly, if we are willing to admit them.

In the 1950s, the young State of Israel had a plan for the Hula Valley in the north of the country. The valley held a lake and large areas of wetland, full of birds, fish and plants. But it was also home to mosquitoes that spread malaria, and the country needed land for farming. So engineers built canals and drained the lake. By 1958, the water was gone, and the drying of the Hula was celebrated as a national success.

However, the success did not last. Without the water, many kinds of fish, birds and plants disappeared from the area. The dry earth turned out to be poor for farming: it was blown away by the wind, and in summer parts of it even caught fire under the ground. In addition, dirty water from the valley flowed into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest source of fresh water.

A small part of the wetland had been saved. In 1964 it became the Hula Nature Reserve, the first nature reserve in Israel. But the real change came in the 1990s, when the government decided to correct its mistake. Part of the valley was flooded again, and a small new lake, Agamon Hula, was created.

The birds came back almost at once. Israel lies on one of the world's busiest routes for birds that fly between Europe, Asia and Africa, and the Hula Valley has become one of the most important stops on that route. Every winter, tens of thousands of cranes stay in the valley. To stop them from eating crops in the fields, farmers and nature workers feed them corn, and visitors come from all over the world to watch them.

The story of the Hula is now taught as a lesson in how humans treat nature. It shows that we cannot always see the results of our actions at the time. It also shows that some mistakes can be fixed, at least partly, if we are willing to admit them.