Israel Oak Association Conference at Ramat Hanadiv

The Alonei Israel Association (Israel Oak Association) was inaugurated in April 2019 in a Conference and Members’ Meeting held at the auditorium of Ramat Hanadiv. It was established as an initiative of eight founding members, following my return from the Conference of the International Oak Society in Davis, California. In September 2022, the Association, in collaboration with the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, held a Conference in memory of the late Michael Avishai, the Scientific Manager of the Gardens since their establishment.

 In July 2025, the third Conference was initiated and organized by the Israel Oak Association. It was held again in Ramat Hanadiv in collaboration with its management. The scope of this Conference was: “Oak trees under climate change”. 

The Conference was opened by the CEO of Ramat Hanadiv, Heli Jacobs, Ezra Barnea, and Omri Bonneh, the CEO of the Association. Throughout the day, nine lectures were delivered by top researchers in Israel from academia, KKL (JNF), and forestry professionals. Topics discussed included the impact of grazing and pruning and thinning oak forests on their development and their resilience to wildfires, oaks distribution limits in Mt. Hermon and Golan Heights, human-forest interactions, and a large-scale community-based oak forest planting project. The Conference was attended by 120 participants.

Since its founding, the Association has expanded its old oak trees surveying project in Israel to include additional areas such as landscape surveys, chronological forest surveys, and more. To date, over 3,500 oak trees with diameters of 50 cm and above have been marked as part of the mapping project. Another strategic activity of the Association is supporting over 10 community-based action groups that carry out projects of planting trees, with a focus on increasing the planting of native oak species and other native broadleaves of the Mediterranean woodland in Israel.

The Association is currently in a period of growth in our activity, and we look forward with anticipation to further expansion, joining of new members, and increased activity.