On Behalf of 770,000 Trees: Thank You
ForestPlanet is turning five years old. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing updates since exciting new things are happening across the organization. We are thankful for the small army of individual supporters, corporate partners, foundations, vendors, consultants, event attendees, sponsors, and friends who have helped us reach this milestone.
Together we have planted 770,000 trees!
We thank the many tree-planting partners worldwide who are doing the day-to-day work of getting trees planted where they are needed most. With this first 5th Anniversary Report, we will revisit and update the activities at the Irente Planting Site in the Western Usambara Mountain region of Tanzania, which are managed by our experienced and capable tree-planting partner, the Friends of Usambara Society (FUS). We’ll also introduce our new Morocco-based tree-planting partner, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF).
As previously reported here and here, the Irente Planting site is a 2200-ha region in northeast Tanzania (about 5 square miles) that ForestPlanet is revitalizing. The area holds ~1 million trees to start with, but there is room (and need) for ~2 million more, so that is our goal. The good news is that FUS has developed a world-class tree nursery in the region, which holds ~14 million healthy seedlings at any given time. The funds that we raise and then distribute to FUS help get these seedlings started and then out-planted to the field when the time is right.
We express our heartfelt thanks to the Palmer Foundation for a generous grant that helped to kick-start this program, getting the first 250,000 seedlings planted beginning in December 2021.
People residing within the Irente planting site in Tanzania have been receiving healthy seedlings for a few weeks now, thanks to ForestPlanet’s supporters. These young trees are gratefully received, and entire villages are pitching in to get the young trees planted during the twice-yearly rainy season.
The tree species are Grevillea robusta, Acrocarpus fraxinifolius, loquat, Pinus patula, Japanese camphor, Makhamia lutea. Also included are healthy avocado seedlings that will start producing nutritious fruit in abundance in less than three years.
Meanwhile, 4,000 miles away in Morocco…
The newest ForestPlanet tree planting partner has been busy planting fruit trees in a variety of semi-arid regions. The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) operates many education and economic development projects, and also has a successful tree planting program that we are excited to support.
The HAF currently manages 11 organic fruit tree nurseries in 7 provinces of Morocco with its community, government, and civil partners. The total capacity of HAF’s nurseries is 2.4 million seedlings, and the varieties include almond, argan, carob, cherry, fig, lemon, pomegranate, and walnut. The production of these income-generating fruit trees directly benefits Moroccan families, schools, and communities, as well as the regional environments. These projects encourage cooperation between citizens, their government, and various intercultural groups.
Like the FUS, the HAF has developed a regional system of seedling nurseries located adjacent to planting sites. HAF has out-planted millions of trees over the past nine years. Once soils have been revitalized and stabilized, HAF intercrops subsistence crops between the trees, similar to our partner FUS.
These planting sites are very carefully designed to take full advantage of the precious water that is available. As the picture shows, the transformation of the land from baked and barren to green and lush is stark.
Our teams have accomplished a great deal, and the positive results speak for themselves, but many more trees need to be planted here in Morocco and worldwide.
You can help support these and other successful programs! Help us get to 1 million trees planted to celebrate our 5th Anniversary!
At 15 cents per tree, a donation of $150 helps plant 1,000 trees, transforming lands and lives like those pictured above. Every donation, at every level, goes a long way.