Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel

SPNI's story begins with a government decision in the early 1950s to drain Lake Hula and its surrounding wetlands—an area of roughly 60 square kilometers that supported diverse plant and animal species.[6] The drainage was intended to combat malaria and expand agricultural land for communities in the Upper Galilee.[6] The project carried symbolic weight in the young state: a saying sometimes attributed, likely incorrectly, to David Ben-Gurion—"Zionist peat does not sink"—captured the mood of national development that drove it, even as scientists warned that the peat soil would sink and prove unsuitable for farming.[4]

A chance encounter between zoology student Amotz Zehavi and nature teacher Azaria Alon sparked organized opposition to the drainage plans.[1] Although the campaign failed to prevent the draining of the Hula Valley, it resonated widely with the public and convinced Zehavi and Alon that broader popular involvement was essential to protecting Israel's natural environment.[1] They founded an organization initially called Ayala—the Israeli Association for Nature Preservation—which was legally registered as a voluntary association in 1953 under the name Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.[6][1]

A parallel institutional thread ran through zoologist Professor Heinrich Mendelssohn, who in 1951 initiated the Committee for Nature Preservation, whose members included Yaacov Galil, Dvorah Ayalon-Sereni, Rachel Gavrieli, Alexander Barash, Yaacov Hoofien, and Haim Merom.[1] That committee's most influential early campaign sought to protect ancient oak forests in the western Lower Galilee, in the area now known as Kiryat Tivon; it succeeded when Jewish National Fund director Yosef Weitz ordered that new homes be built without damaging those trees.[1] Co-founder Azaria Alon (1918–2014) later served as the Society's secretary and became a prominent conservation advocate, publishing books and articles and presenting a popular radio segment on nature.[7]

In its earliest years, SPNI operated without institutional funding and charged two Israeli lira per member; Amotz Zehavi and other founders personally approached acquaintances to recruit paying members.[8] On June 6, 1956, a decision was taken to designate part of the drained Hula area as Israel's first nature reserve, an outcome attributed in part to the nature-preservation campaign associated with SPNI's founding.[4]

During what historians of the Israeli environmental movement describe as the "establishment era," SPNI's work was characterized primarily by public education and information rather than organized campaigning.[1] The organization led nature hikes, held scientific conferences for both scholars and the general public, established field schools, and published periodicals and nature books.[1] Its founding philosophy, unusual in the context of 1950s Israel—when development and the ethos of "conquering the wilderness" were dominant—held that ignorance, not malice, was the primary driver of environmental damage.[8][5]

At the organization's first recorded gathering, held at Oranim Kibbutzim Seminary in 1954, founder Amotz Zehavi told members that damage to nature was caused mainly by lack of knowledge, and that the destruction of animal life resulted mainly from the destruction of the landscapes where animals lived.[5] That educational conviction shaped the Society's early work, although the historical movement account distinguishes SPNI's educational activity from campaigns led by individual actors during those years.[1]

The wildflower campaign of the 1950s and 1960s stands as one of SPNI's most celebrated early achievements. Working alongside the Nature Reserves Authority, SPNI launched a public education effort urging Israelis: "Don't pick! Don't uproot! Don't buy! And don't sell!"—and its own slogan urged, "Go out into the landscape—but don't pick."[9][10] The campaign is described as having saved Israel's wildflowers and was regarded three decades later as the country's most successful nature-protection effort.[9] It also contributed to the establishment of legal protections for wildflowers.[10]

The field-school network that became central to SPNI's identity began with a school at Ein Gedi in 1963, the year the Society marked its tenth anniversary.[11] By 1966 there were seven such schools.[11] They were established near nature reserves, hiking routes, scenic areas, and heritage sites, and cooperated with the Ministries of Education and Defense, which sent students and Nahal groups for educational programs.[11] By the time of a later report, 12 field schools were in operation, nine of them offering hostel or guest accommodation.[11] SPNI's field schools guide school groups and hikers on day and annual trips, accompany youth groups, and engage with nearby communities.[2]

A historical account places the establishment of the Nature Reserves Authority and the National Parks Authority in 1963, following public pressure associated with the Hula campaign and with support mainly from the Ministry of Agriculture.[1] SPNI's own retrospective dates the establishment of the Nature Reserves Authority to 1964 and attributes the initiative to the Society.[10] The resulting division of labor proved durable: SPNI provided popular activism and public recognition, while government authorities held legal powers to plan, establish, and manage nature reserves, national parks, and natural monuments.[1]

From the mid-1960s onward, SPNI became increasingly involved in planning and development disputes. Its campaigns during the institutionalization period addressed threats including mining on Mount Carmel and Mount Zin, the Reading and Hadera power plants, a proposed Voice of America transmission station in the Arava, the Tefen–Carmiel highway, and a proposed settlement in the Um al-Safa forest.[1] Reported outcomes included cancellation of the Carmel mine plan and declaration of the Carmel as a national park, selection of an alternative site for the Hadera power plant, cancellation of the Arava station and Um al-Safa settlement plans, and a new standard requiring landscape inspection in road planning after the Tefen–Carmiel highway case.[1]

SPNI also campaigned on Mount Gilboa, opposing a large-scale planting plan that began in 1962 in order to protect habitats for the purple iris and wild wheat.[6] The Society and the Jewish National Fund eventually reached a compromise: the lower part of the mountain would become a nature reserve and the upper part would be planted, with additional protection for the Gilboa iris and wild wheat around Mount Barkan.[6] In 1971, Mount Carmel was declared a national park with nature reserves covering 84,000 dunams—roughly 75 percent of the Carmel—excluding the built areas of Isfiya, Daliyat al-Karmel, and Kibbutz Beit Oren.[6]

In 1975, the umbrella organization Life and Environment (Hayim V'Sviva) was established through the initiative of MK Yosef Tamir, with cooperation from SPNI general secretary Azaria Alon and Nature Reserves Authority chairman Avraham Yafeh.[1] That framework provided a vehicle for initiating legislation and representing the public in planning institutions, while most public activism continued to be conducted by organizations including SPNI.[1] SPNI also founded the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites in 1984, a body that became independent in 2008, and at the end of the 1990s converted its overseas travel department into an independent business corporation called Roim Olam.[1]

From 1990 onward, SPNI shifted from acting primarily as a campaigning organization to participating in continuing planning processes, increasingly serving as an intermediary between the public and government.[1] Environmental planning became a leading area of its work, and in 1992 SPNI established the Open Landscape Institute within the organization to conduct empirical research on planning and open landscapes.[1] SPNI was also identified as an early and prominent marker of environmental activity in Israel's public sphere, with its Environment and Nature Protection Branch coordinating work on issues including coastal and marine policy.[12]

A 2018 report put SPNI's membership above 160,000, whereas the organization's current website describes tens of thousands of members and more than 700 employees.[13][2] Its education network has been described as including 14 field study centers, dozens of urban and regional branches, hundreds of youth clubs, and teacher-training programs, with a participation rate that once approached 20 percent of Israel's population.[14] A separate government overview listed 10 field schools, four bird-watching centers, five urban nature centers, and 10 local branches as part of its outreach network.[15]

Beyond environmental conservation, SPNI's work has extended to community projects including turning vacant urban lots in low- and middle-income neighborhoods into gardens, with social workers and horticulturalists working alongside residents from different backgrounds in projects in Haifa and Beersheba.[13] The organization has also cooperated with farmers in Israel and Jordan to use barn owls for rodent control as an alternative to pesticides.[13] A pre-military preparatory program at Ma'agan Michael enrolled approximately 80 participants a year as of a 2024 interview with SPNI director general Dan Alon.[16]

SPNI planned and inaugurated the Israel National Trail in 1995, creating a long-distance hiking route that has become one of Israel's best-known outdoor landmarks.[17][5] The current route extends more than 1,000 kilometers from Mount Hermon to Eilat; older published descriptions measured a route of 1,015 to 1,100 kilometers beginning at Kibbutz Dan, reflecting changes made over time.[18][5] SPNI staff mark the trail in the field with white, blue, and orange markings and maintain it along its full length, adjusting the route as construction, roads, agriculture, and other landscape changes occur.[5]

The trail's origins involved SPNI institutional infrastructure from an early stage. In 1984, project advocate Avraham Tamir contacted SPNI Secretary Yoav Sagi, who introduced him to Ori Dvir, then chairman of SPNI's Committee for Israel's Trails; Tamir and Dvir submitted a proposed route from Dan to Eilat, which the committee approved before the project launched in 1985.[19] During route planning, advice was sought from SPNI guides, tour guides, Jewish National Fund officials, and Parks and Nature Authority supervisors. Their recommendations conflicted so extensively that following them all would have produced a total route of 10,000 kilometers; planners considered the input but made final decisions themselves.[19]

SPNI holds the official trademarks for the English name "Israel National Trail" and the route markings, and lawsuits have been filed against commercial businesses using the name without permission, including stores at Dvira Junction and Koah Junction.[19] SPNI's current trail page divides the route into 56 sections.[5] In 2018, SPNI worked with Israel's government mapping authority to digitize and publish a complete map of the then-current route for free; SPNI director Iris Han said the aim was to make nature accessible and encourage hiking as a way of strengthening commitment to its protection.[18]

SPNI's prominent campaigns since the 1990s have involved large-scale planning disputes in which the organization used public advocacy, professional assessments, planning proceedings, and litigation to challenge development proposals on ecologically or archaeologically sensitive land.[16][16]

The campaign against the Safdie Plan—which proposed approximately 20,000 housing units in open areas west of Jerusalem—involved demonstrations, petitions, research, cooperation with other organizations, and sustained pressure on planning officials and politicians.[16] Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski withdrew his support for the plan in 2006, and the National Planning and Building Council voted by a large majority to halt it in February 2007.[6][16] SPNI attributed the outcome to its Jerusalem community, a coalition for the preservation of the Jerusalem hills, and tens of thousands of Israeli residents.[6]

On the Haifa coastline, SPNI joined surfers, residents, and other organizations in opposing a proposed marina at Rosh Carmel through petitions, court proceedings, and planning-committee work.[16] The marina plan was finally cancelled in 2006. A marine reserve was subsequently established over an underwater Carmel Ridge extending approximately 11 kilometers from the coast and reaching some 300 meters in depth.[16]

Other notable outcomes include a campaign against a proposed phosphate quarry in the eastern part of Makhtesh Ramon, backed by a petition of 10,000 signatures and professional assessments, which SPNI says resulted in the quarry proposal being stopped and the area known as Eretz Bereshit being preserved.[16] After fifteen years of campaigning alongside local residents, the southern hills of Modi'in were designated a national park in 2021.[16] The Nitzanim dunes—described as the last remaining open area of their kind on the coastal plain—were declared a nature reserve in 2008 after a 2005 proposal to site housing for Gush Katif evacuees there prompted renewed advocacy.[16]

A proposed new settlement on the Gilboa, approved by the government in 2002, was ultimately rejected after 50 biology and ecology scientists submitted professional opinions opposing it.[16] SPNI proposed the 65-kilometer Kinneret Circumference Trail in 2003; the National Planning and Building Council adopted the initiative in 2007 and the government followed in 2008, though a section covering about 10 percent of the lake's circumference remains closed to the public.[16] In 2016, a fishing reform took effect following work through SPNI's "Blue Half" Mediterranean-protection project, setting rules for sustainable fishing including limits on fishing areas and protections for sensitive fish species and habitats.[16] In September 2022, after five years of advocacy, Israel declared its first nature reserve within its exclusive economic zone—covering 450 square kilometers at the Palmahim Disturbance, several dozen kilometers off the Tel Aviv coast, protected from fishing and drilling.

SPNI's relationship with the Hula Valley has been continuous and defining since the organization's founding. The wetlands were drained in the early 1950s to combat malaria and expand agricultural land, but the drained soil proved unsuitable for agriculture and unique wetland habitats and local species disappeared.[6][8] SPNI lobbied and pressed the government during the 1950s to set aside a permanent portion of the drained wetlands as a nature reserve.[20] The resulting Hula Nature Reserve, designated in 1956, became Israel's first nature reserve.[4]

Restoration efforts began in 1971, including renovation of the embankment and construction of a sedimentation reservoir to improve water quality.[21] The reserve today supports tens of thousands of birds and serves as a refuge for rare water plants, with more than 200 species of waterfowl visiting.[21] Designated buffalo-grazing areas, walking trails including floating bridges over marshland, bird-observation sites, and a main path adapted for wheelchair users are among its features; the reserve has also been involved in reintroducing species including the white-tailed eagle.[21]

Changes to farming in the 1990s brought tens of thousands of migrating and wintering cranes to the valley, where they fed on peanuts and other crops, damaging farmers' fields.[6] After research conducted from 1996 to 1999, a crane-feeding project began in 2000 involving Hula Valley farmers, the Jewish National Fund, SPNI, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority; the cranes subsequently became a tourism attraction in the valley.[6] SPNI and the Nature Reserves Authority were also involved in negotiations over the Hula Restoration Project, balancing concerns that tourism development could conflict with ecological priorities; environmental organizations persuaded farmers and developers to integrate commercial elements aesthetically into the landscape, and the plan included a holiday village with facilities for bird-watching, hiking, picnicking, and boating.[22]

SPNI's Start-Up Nature initiative, described in a 2022 opinion article, aims to convert unused agricultural land into wetland sanctuaries supporting habitats and bird migration while developing ecotourism.[23] The initiative's pilot at Kfar Ruppin involved a rewilded reservoir; after wildlife returned, the Kfar Ruppin Birding Park and Wetland Reserve opened in 2021.[23] A second pilot at Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael plans a 33-acre site with four ponds, a University of Haifa migration research station, an education center, walking trails, and capacity for 150,000 visitors annually.[23]

Scientific partnership has run through SPNI's work from its origins in the academic networks of Mendelssohn, Zehavi, and Alon. The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, described in a 2013 report as a joint initiative of SPNI and Tel Aviv University, operated classrooms and dormitories for bird-watching education programs, migration research, flight safety, and international cooperation.[24] The center's location makes it well-situated for its purpose: an estimated 500 million birds fly over Latrun during each migration season.[24]

SPNI's educational and scientific reach has extended internationally. In the mid-1980s, the organization was listed as the Israel sponsor for study-tour programs in an Israel Experience Project resource booklet, and appeared among program respondents to that project's questionnaire.[25] Outdoor educators have described work as SPNI guides as formative experiences that helped inspire broader interest in Jewish outdoor education.[26] A Canadian "circle of friends" initiative was also reported to be under development by the mid-2000s.[27]

SPNI's mandate has always extended beyond ecology to include the preservation of historical and cultural heritage.[3] A notable example came when the Society's coordinator in Rehovot, while preparing a tour intended to help preserve historic sites around the city, discovered the secret of the Ayalon Institute—a former underground munitions factory whose story had remained hidden for decades.[28] That story became public in 1975, thirty years after the Institute was founded, and the former factory was officially designated a national preservation site on October 29, 1987.[28] SPNI jointly published a booklet about the Ayalon Institute with the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel.[28]

SPNI's trail-marking project, begun by Uri Dvir in the 1950s, represents another dimension of the organization's cultural work, creating a network of routes that connects Israelis to natural and historical sites across the country.[1] Its youth hiking groups combine weekly activities with trips of varying difficulty, aiming to develop independence, responsibility, environmental leadership, knowledge of the land, and a love of hiking.[2] In the Valley of Elah, SPNI campaigned for more than two years against a proposed oil-shale extraction project, citing concerns about the valley's ecological corridors, open spaces, aquifers, and archaeological heritage; the Jerusalem Planning Committee's decision to prevent the project was described by the organization as a major victory.[29]

The organization's visual identity has evolved across several decades. The first logo, in use from May 1955 to 1970, showed a deer, tree, and flower within a downward-pointing triangle.[30] When co-founder Azaria Alon became the Society's secretary, he chose the iris as a symbol because it is a native flower found in many parts of Israel, with a characteristic variety in each region.[30] Alon asked designer Amram Perat to draw an iris with two leaves; that emblem was introduced in 1970.[30] In a 2006 rebranding, a white iris was placed inside a green pebble shape.[30]

SPNI describes itself as belonging only to its members and not dependent on any government or business body, attributing its conservation campaigns and achievements to member support.[2] Its stated aims encompass protecting nature, the environment, landscapes, and historical and cultural heritage; educating people about the environment and the land; strengthening public connections to local landscapes, plants, animals, and historical remains; encouraging protective legislation and balanced planning; and maintaining organizational and intellectual independence.[3]

SPNI received the Israel Prize in 1980 in the category of "special contribution to society and the State for the environment," one of the most formal recognitions of the organization's role in Israeli public life.[31] Its founding in 1953, national education network, and long history of conservation campaigns made it a pioneering institution in Israel's environmental movement.[14][2]

Across seven decades, SPNI has prepared a document reviewing nearly 100 environmental struggles in which it participated since the 1950s.[6] Its campaigns have shaped national parks, nature reserves, marine protected areas, sustainable-fishing regulations, and planning standards.[1][16] Its educational reach—through field schools, urban centers, scouting clubs, youth hiking groups, and teacher-training programs—has touched a significant share of Israel's population, with one published estimate placing participation near 20 percent.[14] Dan Alon, SPNI's director general, has described the less visible side of that work: participating in planning committees to reduce development footprints—shrinking a plan from 5,000 dunams of construction to 3,000 and preserving 2,000 dunams—as among the organization's quieter but consequential successes.[16]

The clearest documentary discrepancy concerns SPNI's legal registration date. A 2018 Ynet account states that the organization was registered in December 1953, while a 2006 Ynet account gives November 1963; the sources do not explain the gap.[6][13] Most other accounts, including SPNI's own, place the organization's founding and initial activity in 1953.[1][2]

Many campaign outcomes described in this article are reported primarily or solely by SPNI itself and should be understood as the organization's account of its role and results, particularly where planning and development interests were contested.[16][16][16] The historical movement literature also notes a distinction between SPNI's early educational orientation and the campaigning attributed to individual actors during the establishment era, cautioning against treating the two as interchangeable.[1]

Within the Israel National Trail's development, a notable internal dispute arose: a considerable number of guides at SPNI field schools strongly opposed marking the route, preferring the tradition of unmarked hiking and seeking to preserve what they regarded as "untouched" nature. Opposition in some locations included removing newly placed trail markers.[19] Supporters of marking characterized the opposition as irresponsible toward walkers.[19] The dispute reflects a genuine tension within the organization's own culture between controlled access and the preservation of wild character in natural landscapes.