Distributing and planting trees in Madila

Madila is a community high up in the mountains over looking the ocean.  There are spectacular views but sadly no forests and very few trees.  Hurricane  Matthew had a very devastating effect on this community. 

Our agronomist technician, Jean, who is also the pastor of Madila, will be working with this community, to organize people to build a tree nursery that is locally-funded by community donations of time and money.

The Haiti Tree Project will be available to respond to their requests for in-kind gifts as their tree nursery develops.  For example, we will provide education, seeds, seedlings and materials as their projects develops.  The goal is to reforest this area with fast growing hard woods.  And make the view even more beautiful!

Beautiful views - but not many trees.

Beautiful views - but not many trees.

An update on our old tree nursery - and our latest work.

In 2011 we created a tree nursery in Bwalo.  The nursery grew over 40,000 trees for the local area. We've decided not to focus in this area this year - in part because we've got so many other really exciting opportunities! 

Instead, in exchange for a small donation, we are giving people the more difficult to grow and more expensive fruit trees. The money that we get (which is much less than the cost of the trees) can then be used by communities to start other nurseries using the existing Proje Pyebwa Ayiti (Haiti Tree Project) organization. We've found that by asking for a small donation up front, we get buy in from the local folks, plus they are then able to create this small fund to use for additional projects.  

It all gets to our basic philosophy - we don't tell people what to do - we just offer education, resources and support for communities that want to improve their communities.  We believe in honest and open partnerships.

If you'd like to help - head over to our take action page.

 

An update of our past work.

Over the years, we've planted many thousands of trees.  It's hard to show what the results of our project look like - in part because, as they say, it's hard to see the trees from the forest.  But here's a picture taken this spring of some land in Beda which used to be just a bare rocky slope.  It may not look like much, but this is the result of reforestation.

 

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Starting a new nursery in LaSucreie

We've been working with some wonderful people in the community of La Sucrerie to create a new nursery.  This is a great example of how the Haiti Tree Project works.  We find partners who have a strong desire to reforest their community and then we work with them in multiple ways.

First we provided education through a seminar led by an agronomist Jean who talked about the importance of reforesting around the gardens and gardening in terraces to stop erosion and mudslides. (apologies for the blurry pictures!)

Agronom meeting

Agronom meeting

Then we provide tools and tree seedlings.

Tools of the trade

Tools of the trade

And then everyone gets involved filling seedling backs with with compost and good soil for planting hardwood trees.

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We're really excited about the enthusiasm everyone has for this project!   We appreciate everyone's help so far in making a small, but meaningful difference in our world!

When life gives you lemon (trees) - plant them!

Lemon trees can take quite a while to grow - even in Haiti where the climate is warm and wet - but there's a shortcut.  Use lemon branches grafted on to existing root stock.  You get a healthy larger tree!   

They're a little more expensive than regular seedlings but we think that the results justify the investment.  Talking about investments - have you considered helping us?

Loading up trees

Loading up trees ready for distribution.  These are 1000 fruit trees, mostly Mango Madam Francique.  We're getting them from Les Cayes to distribute in the mountains of LaSucrerie. 

This Friday March 16th will be their first training seminar on reforestation with 300+ villagers. 

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It's planting time!

The rains have been good and we're busy acquiring and distributing native fruit trees.  We've even been expanding to several new villages.   Mostly we're focusing on Mango Madam Francique this season.  It's a native fruit tree to Haiti, and it's mangoes are so delicious Whole Foods Market goes out of its way to import them every summer. 

 

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The Haiti Tree Project is a 501c-3 charitable organization, registered in the state of North Carolina, USA.

Tax ID: EIN: 46-1012434

© 2024 The Haiti Tree Project

 
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