Spring 2010 Newsletter

Page 1 Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XVIII, No. 1

Spring 2010 Vol. XVIII, No. 1The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the Future

On January 12 one of the most destructive natural di-sasters in history devastated a country already suffering from rampant poverty, malnutrition and environmen-tal degradation. At Trees for the Future's main office in Silver Spring, Maryland, we sat in a state of shock anxiously awaiting any word of safety from our staff on the ground, the communities where we were work-ing, and the loved ones of our friends and colleagues. Almost immediately, emails and telephone calls from concerned friends of TREES flooded into our office seeking such answers. Thankfully our coordinator Timote Georges and oth-er staff members are all okay, but there was tremendous sorrow for the many family members and friends that perished. TREES office in Leveque was seriously damaged. Many of the communities where we have been working experienced the full magni-tude of the quake and currently lack food, shelter and medicine. Haiti is seeing a mass migration of suddenly homeless and desperate people out of Port-au-Prince back to the rural regions. However, the degraded, overused land in these areas strug-gles to even support the permanent residents there. Therefore, as re-ported in many sources, we expect to see drastic increases in malnutri-tion, sickness and unemployment throughout the country. Nevertheless, here at TREES we have seen a lot to give us hope. Hai-ti is slowly rebuilding and Timote

has been playing a crucial role in bringing relief efforts to the specific communities where we are working. TREES has witnessed overwhelming support from our members and business partners, which is allowing us to expand our efforts to assist tree planting and com-munity development activities throughout the country. Following the earthquake, there is an even greater need to bring Haiti's degraded lands back to higher pro-ductivity. Without restoration, serious issues of food insecurity and unemployment will continue to plague Haiti. At TREES, our goal is to expand our Haiti pro-gram to reach more communities in all regions of the country. In 2009, we worked with communities along the Arcadine coast, north of Port-au-Prince, to plant

Hope for Haiti

Continued on page 6

In Desvase, 50 people were recently trained in agroforestry and provided with seeds and materials to establish a tree nursery to reforest

their community.


Let me start by saying "Thank you!" As it turns out, 2009 was a very successful year for TREES. With all of the hard-ship that spread across our land, we are that much more appre-ciative of what all of you have done to help desperate people in the world's developing commu-nities. Now, here in the shadow of the Nation's Capitol, the sun has returned and the day has come when the mountains of snow have disappeared. In light of the cold weather in the DC area and all of the snow, many people are asking the question, "Can you still believe in global warming?" That issue has been very much on people's minds these past months. The bulk of evidence still says it's true. The vast majority of the scientific community agrees. And while it is less apparent while standing on a Chi-cago sidewalk in January, our travels into warmer cli-mates show us, first hand, that it's happening. We see it in ways we wish would never happen in any part of the world. Still, there's room for doubt, especially because of the information given to the public. There are all those challengeable statements made by the coal, oil, gas and other vested interests. And on the other side, there are the hyped-up claims so often made by the so-called "true believers." Then, last December there was the UN Conference in Copenhagen. That's where the professional freeloaders booked every room in town as early as five months in advance. Where everybody promised everybody else big grants but nobody came with a cohesive plan for the funding. Groups of individuals from the world's developing communities, who have seen, and been the victims of, the flooding, landslides, droughts and fail-ing water supplies didn't even have a place at the table where they could share their stories; this despite their daily need to protect their homes and way of life in a changing world. So if the so-called experts came to town without a plan, without even an idea after all these years, then why should it be surprising that people doubt climate change exists? And, either way, why should any public funding, such as was widely promised in Copenhagen,

The Johnny Ipil-Seed News is a quarterly newsletter of TREES FOR THE FUTURE, Inc., a tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people of the world’s poorest communities to begin environmentally beneficial, self-help projects. This newsletter is printed using wind energy on recycled pa-per with soy-based ink and is sent to all supporting members to inform them of recent events, plans, financial matters and how their support is helping people.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSDr. John R. Moore - Chairman, Dr. Peter Falk - Vice Chair-man, Mr. Oscar V. Gruspe - Finance Officer, Dave Deppner - President, Mr. Bedru Sultan, Ms. Marilou Herman, Mr. Franz Stuppard, Mr. John Leary - Members, R. Grace Deppner - Re-cording Secretary (non-voting)

ADVISORY COUNCILDr. Mizani Kristos - West African Development, Dr. James Brewbaker - University of Hawaii, Mr. William Campbell - Sea-soned Energy, Mr. Steve McCrea - Global Climate Change, FL, Dr. Malcolm Novins - George Mason University, Dr. Noel Viet-meyer - The Vetiver Institute, Mr. Sean Griffin - Forestry & GIS Specialist

STAFFDave Deppner - Founder, Executive Director

R. Grace Deppner - Founder, Associate DirectorJeffrey Manuel - Membership Services

Gorav Seth - International Programs CoordinatorJosh Bogart - Central America Coordinator

Ethan Budiansky - Africa and Caribbean Program OfficerJeff Follett - South America Program Officer

Francis Deppner - Southeast Asia CoordinatorDavid Tye - East Africa Coordinator

Heather Muszyinski - Grants CoordinatorGabe Buttram - Ethiopia Program Coordinator

Ryan Murphy - Tree Pals CoordinatorLeandro Monteiro - Business Partnerships Coordinator

Cathie Bukowski - Training Program Coordinator

FIELD STAFFLouis Nkembi - Cameroon, Guillermo Valle - Honduras, Subra-manian Periyasamy - India, Sagapala Gangisetty - India, Manoj Bhatt - India, Donal Perez - Nicaragua, Danny Zabala - Phil-ippines, Omar Ndao - Senegal, Kay Howe - Indonesia, Abdul Chamid - Indonesia, Fernanda Peixoto - Brazil, Paulino Da-miano Mugendi - Kenya, Mathius Lukwago - Uganda, Karam-ba Diakhaby - Senegal, Lovans Owusu-Takyi -Ghana, Robin Achah- Cameroon, Timote Georges - Haiti, Mohamed Traore - Mali, Merkebu Garedew - Ethiopia

To receive this newsletter or for more information, contact:TREES FOR THE FUTURE

The Loret Miller Ruppe Center for Sustainable DevelopmentP.O. Box 7027, Silver Spring, MD 20907

Toll Free: 1-800-643-0001: Ph: 301-565-0630 [email protected]

WWW.PLANT-TREES.ORG

Continued on page 3

Opinion: Looking Back at 2009


be given to organizations that don't have the slightest clue what to do with it? Sounds more like a bunch of politicians promising other politicians big bundles of cash. Well, there is climate change, and something has to be done about it. Here at TREES, we don't agree that massive public funding, with or without a plan, is nec-essary. With your help, we're working with communi-ties that are proving the effectiveness of our approach all around the world. Look at it this way, of the tens of millions of trees you've helped us plant over these past 20 years, not a single tree was ever planted for its "carbon mitigating" value. Every one of them was planted as a means to help people save their lands and their way of life. But we also point out that every year these same trees re-move more than three million tons of carbon dioxide from the global atmosphere! Now, is anybody in the "carbon business" doing anything even half as benefi-cial as that? Every project we start is designed to be "bankable," the participating families are expected to gain a num-ber of important benefits, including an increase in their income. If we don't help them achieve that, we're not

doing our job. What TREES is doing is helping people repair the mas-sive environmental destruction done, through stupidity and greed, over the past 60 or more years and doing it in a way that brings important economic benefit to places where that assistance is especially needed. So IF there is climate change (and there is) and if you want to plant trees to end this threat, the experts say it would require the planting of some 800 billion trees in the world's tropical developing communities. That could be done, not by wasting the taxpayers' money, but as a solid investment in the future for all of us. That's what you're helping us prove to the world. Many pri-vate corporations are already discovering this. They see that in our new economy being a good neighbor is also good business. More of these business partners are join-ing with us every day. In this issue we'll tell you about two partners and what they help us accomplish. I think you'll agree that businesses can be "good people" too.

PBteen is proud to partner with Trees for the Future. With every purchase of their 100% Organic Love Your Planet and Tree Hug/Planet Love Pillow Covers, Trees for the Future will plant one thriving tree. PBteen is an exclusive line of furniture, bedding, lighting and accessories from Pottery Barn designed just for teens. Since 2003, PBteen has been offering fun and innovative solutions for teen bedrooms, lounges, dorm rooms and more. As a part of the Pottery Barn family, PBteen is dedicated to several environmental initiatives. They now offer a wide range of eco-friendly products using 100% organic cotton and re-cycled fill in select seating. More than half of their bedding collections now contain at least

5% organic fiber and a majority of their bedding has been certified by Oeko-Tex to ensure that it’s healthy for you, healthy for those who produce it and healthy for the environment. To stay on top of PBteen’s progress, visit pbteen.com/environment. To purchase one of their pillow covers to benefit Trees for the Future, search planet at pbteen.com.

PBteen Pillow Covers Benefit Trees for the Future

Opinion (continued from page 2)


This past February, Africa and Caribbean Programs Officer, Ethan Budiansky, made a trip to see and evaluate Trees for the Future's programs in Mali and Burkina Faso. TREES began working in Mali back in 2006 with the assistance of local technician Mohamed Traore, who is also a founding member of Bamako-based NGO Mali-Espoir. In the early years of the program, TREES provided Mohamed with tree seeds and training, including a visit to Senegal to spend time learning from TREES Senegal Technician Omar Ndao. With TREES' assistance, Mohamed and Mali-Espoir worked with numerous communities throughout Mali to develop agroforestry projects. For two years Mo-hamed pursued a master’s degree in natural resources in Alexandria, Egypt. In 2009, with Mohamed's return, the Mali program expanded to the countries of Guinea, Niger and Burkina Faso. Ethan's recent visit brought him to projects throughout Mali and Burkina Faso. In Mali, TREES works in four regions – Sanenkoro-ba, Kalifabougou, Nioro and Nara. The projects are as diverse as the landscape and the people. Closer to the capital, Bamako, in Kalifabougou TREES is working with a women's group of 166 members. The women are

all part of a large communal garden and share in all of their activities. After a meeting with the women, Ethan, Mohamed and the women visited the projects from this past year. They established a nursery of around 40,000 trees. Many of the trees were planted as live fencing around the field. The men of the community were also given a number of seedlings as well to plant in their fields. Most interesting was the women's intensive baobab project. Baobab trees, pictured in many images of Africa, are slow growing, but produce a highly desir-able and tasty leaf used in many local dishes. In this project, women plant many seedlings in lines spaced at 20cm apart in a garden bed. For the first two years, the women harvest the leaves of the young seedlings every two weeks to eat or sell in the local market. When the trees get to be too large, the women will plant them in their fields. With intensive leaf production, the women can make an additional $250 per year, which is the an-nual income of many rural farmers. Therefore, TREES intends to develop similar projects throughout Mali and other countries. In 2010 TREES will continue expanding its pro-

Valentin planted this live fence of Acacia nilotica in 2009. The thorny live fence will protect his fruit trees (in protective structures) and gardens from animals.

This sign, at the tree nursery in Balga, proudly shows the partnership between TREES and the local farmers'

cooperative, YENPAABU

Continued on page 5

Mali Update


Mali Update (continued from page 4)

gram in Mali. There are numerous new communities who wish to become involved in TREES' program. In ad-dition to baobab, TREES is working with communities to develop projects around Shea trees in order to produce Shea butter, another highly desirable product from trees. During this visit Ethan met with the Peace Corps direc-tor in Mali. Many Peace Corps country programs are focusing strongly on is-sues of food security, a subject in which agroforestry plays an important role. In the near future, TREES will be assist-ing volunteers to develop agroforestry projects in their villages throughout the country. In addition, Mohamed will be a resource to train volunteers in hands-on agroforestry techniques. Peace Corps looks to place volunteers in areas where they can assist communities working with TREES. The program in Burkina Faso, in only its first year, is off to an excellent start. Emmanuel Yoni learned about Trees for the Future while studying with Mohamed in Egypt and wanted to develop agroforestry projects in his home country. He started in the community where he was raised, Balga. The community group consist-ing of 43 farmers established a shared nursery in 2009. They planted trees primarily used in live fencing and

windbreaks such as Acacia nilotica, Leucaena leuco-cephala, and Jatropha curcas. Many farmers are al-ready engaged in planting corn and sorghum annually, though, in the future, they would like to establish fruit tree orchards. The live fences and windbreaks were planted to protect the future fruit trees from intruding animals and wind, which knocks fruit off the trees. In total, the community planted over 50,000 trees. Looking into 2010, Emmanuel intends to expand TREES' efforts in three different regions of Burkina Faso. The project in Balga is further developing and will include tree planting with the local secondary

school this year. In addition, we are developing a partnership with Peace Corps in the country. At a meeting dur-ing the visit, many Peace Corps vol-unteers expressed their desire to work with TREES to develop agroforestry projects in their village. The programs in Niger and Guinea will also continue in 2010. The program in West Africa continues to be very successful and TREES is reach-ing rural communities throughout the region. Much of the land is heavily degraded; however, people are learning that with a little hard work and dedica-tion, they can improve their lives and bring life back to their environment by planting trees.

Ethan, Mohamed and Emmanuel with the farmer’s cooperative in Balga

TREES local coordinator Mohamed Traore and the women's group standing along a live fence that was planted in 2007


over 1 million trees. This year, we are continuing those efforts and expanding into 2 new regions - Gonaives and Medor, where we are hoping to plant over 500,000 trees

Arcadine Coast Currently we are working with 12 communities along the Arcadine coast. We collaborated with some of these communities in 2009, but many are new partners who are in particular need following the earthquake. In these communities, people are planting trees that grow quickly, regenerate and protect the depleted soil, and provide sources of fuelwood, construction mate-rials, food, animal fodder and other valuable resourc-es. Farmers have been organized and trained and we expect to plant around 500,000 trees in this region by mid-2010. In response to the serious issue of food insecurity, we are incorporating a strong agriculture component to the program. We are providing the participating farmers with tools to farm their land along with seeds for corn, sorghum and beans. Supplying people with these seeds helps address immediate needs for hunger while also providing a platform to discuss sustainable agricultural

practices that incorporate trees.

Gonaives In December 2009, Trees for the Future and the Yéle Foundation (www.yele.org) established a major part-nership to develop a program in Gonaives, a region which suffers from extreme poverty, malnutrition and vulnerability to hurricanes. Under the Yéle Founda-tion's Yéle Vert program, we will establish a central tree nursery, office, and training and agriculture center in the city of Gonaives. In addition, five community nurseries will be established in rural communities sur-rounding the city. The tree nurseries will supply multi-purpose and fast-growing trees for food, animal fodder, construction material, biofuel and sustainable fuelwood and charcoal production. Each nursery will provide an agricultural service to help small scale farmers and co-operatives improve their crop production and integrate trees into their farming practices. In total, the program expects to produce over 1 million trees per year in Go-naives. The program was delayed following the earthquake, as everyone focused on immediate relief and recov-ery efforts. Now, Timote has reached two communi-ties where participants have learned about agroforestry techniques. Tree nurseries were established in Febru-

50 people participated in the agroforestry training. They are establishing a nursery of 45,000 trees includ-

ing Jatropha, Mahogany, Moringa, Acacia angustissima, Catalpa longissima, Leucaena leucocephala

and Samanea saman.

Members of the community of Medor were trained in agroforestry. They established a nursery of 30,000

seedlings.

Continued on page 7

Hope for Haiti (continued from page 1)


St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the alma mater of TREES fundrais-ing coordinator Heather Muszyn-ski, hosted their fifth annual Polar Bear Plunge on February 19, 2010. The plunge, which was started by the college’s Student Environ-mental Action Coalition (SEAC), is an effort to have fun while rais-ing awareness about global climate change. Every year the students se-lect a specific cause to raise money for in conjunction with the plunge and this year Trees for the Future was their pick! More then 100 students, faculty and staff came together to take the plunge. The water and air tempera-ture were both in the low 30s, mak-ing for a very chilly dip in the river! Trees for the Future would like to thank the college and students for organizing the event, as well as for donating the money they raised to our Haiti program. Way to go guys!

Students from St. Mary's College of Maryland take the plunge to benefit Trees for the Future

ary and about 100,000 trees will be planted by June. The farmers will also plant traditional crops as part of the agriculture program. Beginning this April, we will break ground on the central nursery and training center in Gonaives and reach new rural communities interest-ed in the program. By this November, we expect the program to be running near full capacity.

Medor Trees for the Future is developing a new program in the mountains of Medor, in the Chaine des Cahos region, Northeast of Port au Prince. In partnership with Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington, VA, we are working with 13 parishes in Medor to develop a sizeable reforestation campaign along the exposed hill-sides. We have already started a pilot project with the main parish in Medor. Farmers were trained in agrofor-estry, and by June participants will plant 30,000 trees in the degraded mountains and hillsides surrounding their community.

Why we need your help The current situation adds a new sense of urgency to expand our program in 2010. Our area of activity cov-ers regions which have been devastated by the earth-quake, and we must expand our coverage to reach as many of these villages as possible. We will continue to concentrate our efforts on hillside restoration, soil improvement and training new people in agroforestry techniques. Our approach is based on sustainable agri-culture practices that improve crop yields and provide food and income for the people of Haiti. Experience has taught us that the land can be rehabilitated and that the Haitian people are eager to participate in the process when the necessary assistance is provided. There are numerous communities throughout Haiti asking to participate in Trees for the Future's program. In addition to supporting immediate relief efforts in Haiti, we hope that our supporters can help us address the long-term needs of people in Haiti. Please visit our website at www.plant-trees.org and thank you for all of your past and continued support.

Hope for Haiti (continued from page 6)

A Cold Leap for Trees


One of the great things about working with Trees for the Future is the wonderful, inspiring people you have a chance to be in contact with. Mariane Mugerwa, a teacher in rural Uganda, is one of these people. Recently, we asked her some questions about her life, work and involvement with Trees for the Future.

Treesftf: Can you tell me a little about your background? Mariane: I came from a family of six and am 25 years old. I am a graduate from Makerere University with a working experience of one and a half years. During my high school time, I was the secretary of an environmental club and we made sure that our school compound was always beautified and protected to bring green to our being.

Treesftf: What was your childhood like? Mariane: During my childhood, I went through school and came to observe that trees and flower protection was very important. Any kid who could dare breaking or disturbing a tree or a flower would be punished and told to replace it with another one and this stuck in my heart as I grew up. I tried my level best not to fall a victim of plant or flower destruction but I could not save myself all the time and I found myself picking one flower from the plant and a fellow kid reported me. I had to get my dad to get another beautiful flower to replace it.

Treesftf: How did you get involved with Trees for the Future? Mariane: When the Executive of Rural and Urban Community Development was informed of the pro-grams of TREES we were also informed about it and we wrote requesting for partnership, which was accepted. We started fully understanding what TREES is all about and we were convinced that we can be part of it so we have never looked back.

Treesftf: What are you and your students doing with Trees for the Future and Tree Pals? Mariane: We prepare nursery beds, and also plant trees in our communities. The seeds that we got from TREES helped us to reach areas we were unable to reach before because we did not have a strong environment partner to rely on. With Tree Pals, we are waiting to start exchanging views and ideas on how trees are important and how we can conserve them for the good of our lives with a partner class[room of students]. I am convinced that kids can be great agents of environmental conservation once informed well of what their roles can be, which is what we are doing at Angels of Hope Junior School. Tree Pals will help students to understand how different nations handle environmental issues and what we have in common as regards environment

Treesftf: What would you like to do in your community in the future? Mariane: In the future, I would like to see that all schools in our areas of operation have set up environmental clubs that will help propagate the message of conserving the environment and seeing all the school compounds with suitable trees. In addition to that, I would like to encourage and involve community members in tree planting campaigns, and organize for environmental campaign programs to educate the community on the role of a con-served environment. We are glad that our school-going children have picked interest in tree planting and nursery bed preparing and we are only missing seeds to give to them so that they can start their own beds and then dis-tribute the seedlings because many people use scarcity of money as a reason to why they don’t plant trees in their land. With more seedlings given out free of charge, many trees will be planted.

Scouts preparing to plant their trees at the Kaazi camp-ing ground in Uganda

Teaching with Trees for the Future in Uganda


After supporting our organization for the past few years, Instructional Assistant Melissa Perkins decided to get a little more involved with Trees for the Future and participated in the Tree Pals program this past Fall. She and the students in the class she works with from Tully Elementary school in Louisville, Kentucky were linked with a partner classroom working with us to plant trees in Masaya, Nicaragua. They exchanged letters and pictures of themselves, the school and trees in the area with their partner class. Recently, Tree Pals Program Coordinator Ryan Murphy had a chance to ask her a few questions about her experience.

Treesftf: Why did you decide to get involved with Trees for the Future? Melissa: I became involved with Trees for the Future in 2008 after learning about the wonderful job you were doing around the world raising environmental awareness. I also started to make contributions in honor of the students at Tully Elementary.

Treesftf: What have you done with Tree Pals and how does it fit in with the work already going on at Tully El-ementary? Melissa: Along with environmental studies being conducted in classrooms and throughout our school, Tree Pals seemed to be a perfect fit. The students sent letters and a picture of themselves to students in Nicaragua. With our package we also included pictures of our school environment, trees planted at Tully and our wonderful green-house.

Treesftf: What have your students learned from the letter-writing activity? Melissa: In the letter that we received from one of the classrooms in Nicaragua, we were able to learn about their school, society, crops, and environmental stud-ies. These smart and compassionate stu-dents will make some of the great leaders of tomorrow.

Treesftf: Why do you think this type of program is important? Melissa: I was very excited last year when I found out the Trees for the Fu-ture was continuing Tree Pals. It’s a great way to continue the building of interna-tional communication, not only for the children, but for adults as well.

Melissa is participating in the program again this spring and excited to add Tree Pals into other environmental education activities at her school, including a recent visit Dr. Anne Savage, Senior Conservation Biologist at Dis-ney's Animal Kingdom, who spoke with classrooms about rain forests and deforestation. Tree Pals wants to thank Mariane, Melissa, and dedicated educators like them for bringing the Tree Pals pro-gram to life. Without their continued support and perseverance, none of what we do would be possible. If you are interested in getting involved or supporting the program you can go to the website at www.treepals.org.

Students in Nicaragua showing their new seedlings

United States Experience with Tree Pals


On the morning of February 23rd, Dave and Grace Deppner, members of our Board of Directors, and TREES staff made it to Annapolis, Maryland to receive resolutions by both the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates recognizing the work of the organization over its twenty-year history. The morning began with a breakfast at the Maryland Inn, a historic landmark in the center of Annapolis. Staff members, volunteers, members of the board, long-time supporters and friends mingled over coffee and pancakes, and local politicians were introduced to our work planting trees around the world from their own back yard. After a laudatory introduction by Senator Brian Frosh and Delegate Al Carr, Dave addressed the crowd. He spoke of the growth of TREES from humble beginnings at the kitchen table of the Deppner household to an or-ganization that has planted over 65 million trees and is currently working in 28 countries. He then gave the floor to board member Franz Stuppard, who explained TREES history in Haiti and told the audience how the organization will move forward there in the future. Fi-nally, board chairman John Moore gave a unique per-spective on the beginnings of Trees for the Future and the founder Dave Deppner. John has known Dave for more than fifty years! Dave closed the presentation with thanks to the Mary-

land legislators and their recognition of the value of the work that we do. Then, it was off to the floor of the House and Senate Chambers to receive the resolutions. Dave, Franz and John were handed certificates as the entire Maryland Legislature voted to award resolutions to Trees for the Future in honor of the organization's amazing work for the past 20 years. The event was not only a celebration of the past, but an indicator of the promising future of TREES and a symbol of the support the Maryland community has for the work we do.

Praise for Our Brazil Program We have just finished up with a successful transplant-ing season. As an added bonus, we received some great third-party recognition of our work. Danielle Weiss, Project Manager for Planeterra, visited our projects in mid-February. We are very proud of our program and it was wonderful to get such positive feedback from Danielle. You can check out her blog postings at:

http://www.community.planeterra.org/profiles/blogs/planeterra-plants-half-a http://www.community.planeterra.org/profiles/blogs/heading-out-to-the-brazilian http://www.community.planeterra.org/profiles/blogs/volunteer-opportunities-at-our

Thanks to Fernanda Peixoto and Paulo Polvora for taking time to show Danielle around.

The forest garden approach to reforestation at the Peixoto demonstration site

Speaker of the House Michael Busch, Dave Deppner, Franz Stuppard and John Moore with Delegate Al Carr

after receiving the resolution

Trees for the Future Honored by the Maryland State Legislature


Recently there was a landslide in Uganda due to un-usually heavy rains in the third week of the rainy sea-son. This unfortunate natural disaster took place in an area where Trees for the Future started working in 2008 in association with Randa United Farmers Group (RUFG), which is based in and works with small holder farmers in Randa Village in Bududa District, Uganda. RUFG was one of the first organizations that Trees for the Future began working with after establishing the East Africa Office. TREES has worked with RUFG to provide tree seeds to 25 farmers throughout the com-munity. We have also worked together to train farm-ers on establishing contours and terraces on hillsides to stabilize the land converted to farms. The contours have been combined with plantings of vetiver grass and Calliandra calothyrsus trees to create barriers that help

counter soil erosion. RUFG is interested in expand-ing the agroforestry and tree planting program to other nearby villages in Bududa District to prevent what hap-pened in the nearby villages of Kubehwo, Namakansa, and Nametsi. Natural disasters may be inevitable, but the severity of the consequences they cause for com-munities can be mitigated by improving the land man-agement practices in areas prone to these disasters. The events from Haiti and Uganda so far this year, empha-size the ever-increasing importance of the work and education that TREES strives to provide. The Executive Director of RUFG, Mukhobeh Moses

Khaukha, wrote to the organizations that they are work-ing with, like TREES, to explain the situation. The fol-lowing is his appeal for assistance and support during this difficult time: "If you can afford to donate, please come in, we are bad-ly off with a need for clothes, iron sheets, medical sup-plies, water, equipment, food and funds. Randa United Farmers Group will be used as a centre to supply what has been donated to the survivors. RUFG therefore re-quests friends and well wishers to make contributions of anything which will be used to help household ne-cessities for those who have lost their homes. We need emergency kits to offer the affected households that have lost their homes and property including blankets, water containers, basins, saucepans, plates, tarpaulins, soap, and cups as well as water purification tablets. Anything can be sent to this address:"

c/o UCSD P. O. Box 27551 Kampala - Uganda

For further details on the landslide and the devasta-tion it has caused, we have included an account from allAfrica.com (http://allafrica.com/stories/201003030037.html) that Director Khaukha included in his appeal for help: A MASSIVE landslide swept the slopes of Mt. El-gon [near our project area] in eastern Uganda on Mon-day night, killing at least 80 people, with 350 missing and feared dead. The landslide erased three villages in Bududa district known as Kubehwo, Namakansa and Nametsi located in Bukalasi sub-county. By press time, 80 bodies had been recovered, with only 43 survivors, two of them elderly women. Over 100 pupils, who could not walk home in time because River Wukha was flooded, and took shelter in a shop in Nametsi, were buried. The shop attendant, Mi-chael Nabute, who had reportedly sheltered them, took off when he heard thunderous sound of rolling earth up-hill. Other people were trapped for running in the wrong direction in a desperate attempt to escape. Weep-ing residents, who lost all their belongings and liveli-hood, were inconsolable. They stood in small groups trying to come to terms with the loss. Men shook their heads in disbelief while others placed their hands over their heads in shock. Children sat on the ground help-

Despite our initial work with RUFG, the damage from the landslide in Uganda is truly catastrophic.

Continued on page 12

Disaster Strikes Our Friends in Uganda


lessly. "It's a mourning mood," Alex Bright, a security officer at the scene, remarked. "A mudslide covering an area of 200 metres wide came down and buried the three villages," he said. "The situation is sad," Kabwegyere's deputy Musa Ecweru said. He oversaw the rescue mission at Nametsi. The army, the Police, the Uganda Red Cross and dis-trict leaders rushed to the area which was reduced to a

brown slope with bodies buried underneath. Rescuers joined residents to dig up the soil for survivors and the dead for burial. The survivors were rushed to Bududa Hospital. Landslides occur when there is a downward slide of a dry mass of earth and rock. The Red Cross in a statement warned of floods in Moroto, Katakwi and Nakapiripirit.

Randa Village is built on steep hillsides. Years of continued farming and constant soil erosion has led to poverty and low agricultural production. TREES is working on agroforestry projects that will help rejuvenate these lands.

eco Optics Trees for the Future would like to introduce a new business partner - eco Optics part of MODO Eyewear. For each pair of eco frames purchased, MODO donates one new tree to Trees for the Future. eco plans to plant over a half a million trees in 2010 in Cameroon. eco, the first line of affordable luxury eyewear to bring environmental responsibility to the forefront, is a new collection of Earth-Conscious Op-tics for men and women created by renowned luxury eyewear designer MODO. eco works to repurpose, recycle or reuse materials throughout every step of the product lifecycle boasting a 360° approach to sustainability without sacrificing quality, design or price. The eco collection has become the first-ever consumer brand and eyewear collection to receive an Environ-mental Claims Validation™ (ECV) from UL Environment (ULE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Underwriters

Laboratories (UL), a world leader in product evaluation. The ULE valida-tion substantiates eco’s assertion that the eyewear is made of at least 95 percent recycled stainless steel and plastic. In addition to using recycled and repurposed materials to create the frames, the collection is packaged in recycled materials and each new pair is accompanied by an easy to use mail-in recycling kit. eco created a system that allows customers to donate their unwanted frames to charities helping people with poor vision in developing areas of the world.

Disaster for Our Friends in Uganda (continued from page 11)


The General Situation: The year began cautiously because of so many dis-couraging predictions about the economy. Even at the beginning of the year, we were aware that many new communities – even new countries - were asking to join the program. Therefore we decided to set aside a suffi-cient reserve to assure that we could provide the inputs these new projects would need. As it turned out, with careful management, there was adequate funding to continue all of our programs. And to keep growing. Total income increased in 2009 slight-ly over 2008. Your support allowed us to bring on two (2) new staff technicians and to establish a new region-al office in Ethiopia. A high percentage of the total income came from pri-vate businesses, which now produce nearly 60% of our annual income. While grants from private foundations were disappointing, by year’s end we had been awarded a major grant from the Yéle Foundation in Haiti, to ini-tiate a major two-year program in the uplands above the often threatened city of Gonaives. Despite the earth-quake this past January, the program started as planned in early 2010. Climate & Environmental issues: In 2009 we found that acceptance of our reasons for restoring tree cover to the world’s degraded lands in-creased significantly, although there was less public

support for addressing the global climate issue. By year’s end, NOAH had stated that carbon levels had increased to 387 parts per million, while most scien-tists are of the opinion that a safe CO-2 level would be somewhere below 350 ppm. At the same time, around the world we face increasing difficulties that can almost surely be blamed on climate change: the rapidly rising sea levels that caused so much flooding in the Philippines, the devastating landslides in Indonesia, the 10 years of drought in Southeast Aus-tralia, the movement of insects and diseases into areas that had not been found before, the very disappointing monsoon season in the Indian Subcontinent and, more recently, the “la Nina” effect with extremely high tem-peratures that is now sweeping across the Pacific. International Tree Planting: The total number of trees successfully planted by our program in 2009 is approximately the same as project-ed in 2008 – about 13,400,000 seedlings successfully transplanted and surviving the first, critical, rainy sea-son. While the effort was considerably expanded from 2008, disappointing weather conditions, some very limiting political situations that hobbled efforts in Hon-duras, Ethiopia and, more recently, with the beginning stages of the Philippine national elections. These are situations that are always expected, but in 2009 they happened more frequently than we had

encountered in the past. Also, as we pur-chased seed for expansion in some places we found low germination rates, some-times as low as 20% from some formerly reliable sources. This is a situation TREES can’t tolerate and, fortunately, we are slow-ly developing our own seed orchards in a number of countries. We anticipate that a great number of additional organizations will begin agroforestry projects in the near future and that high quality seeds will be in heavy demand. We now have staff members permanently residing in three (3) regions: Northeast Af-rica, East Africa, and Central America. We hope to have two more assigned in 2010. By the end of 2009, we had trained and are also supporting 53 local field technicians worldwide.

Don Rodriguez with a 19 month old Swietenia humilis tree

Continued on page 14

Trees for the Future, Inc. Annual Report – 2009


Trees for the Future, Inc. Annual Report – 2009 (continued from page 13)

Technical Development: Our program is presently planting approximately 50 species of beneficial, non-invasive permanent trees in various parts of the world. In this way we are gaining a great deal of knowledge about symbiotic relationships. This knowledge is being made available to a rapidly growing worldwide audience through the translation (now in 5 languages) of our Agroforestry Manual- and also the Forest Garden Handbook. Peace Corps Vol-unteers in several countries have now received several hundred manuals and the demand continues to grow. Because of the great number of local organizations, concerned about the environment and looking to devel-op their own action programs, and recognizing that we do not have the resources to reach many such groups, we believe we must expand our long-distance training program. At years end we hired a technician, Cathie Bukowski, a recently returned Peace Corps volunteer from Honduras, to build this program. There is a great need in this program, as well as requests from many of our business partners, that we produce a number of films, of about 4-5 minutes each, explaining various concerns of the program and also training films about various technologies of the program. These are both for a US audience and for community organizations wanting to learn about reforestation/agroforestry

Here I’ll mention that much about producing high quality films is a new activity to us and we would ap-preciate any help you, our members, can provide. For example, one of our Advisors, Steve McCrea recently gave us a grant to buy a much needed high resolution camera with a good microphone. Recognition:TREES was recently recognized by the Maryland leg-islature for our 20 years of service to the community and to the world so, again, thank you! This was only achieved because we have so many good donors. The event is covered on page 10 of this newsletter.

Calliandra, Leucaena, and Grevillea seedlings protected on Swai Ranch near Kivisini Village,

Mwanga District, Tanzania

As part of its report about food security issues in Sen-egal, BBC World News reported on Omar and TREES' work to develop agroforestry projects in the country.


Trees for the Future, Inc. Preliminary Financial Report 2009

Income:Individual Donations $403,514 Foundation Grants $47,680 Corporate Gifts $715,913 Dividends & Interest $4,343 Investment Gain/ Loss ($41,228) TOTAL INCOME $1,130,222

Expenses:Salaries, Consulting, Benefits: Salaries $478,859 Consulting Fees $85,765 SSS/ Taxes / SUTA $37,513 Health/ Other Benefits $26,407 Payroll Processing $2,171 SUBTOTAL $630,715

International Tree Planting Program:On-Site Expenses $347,140 Project Materials $24,879 International Travel & Related $86,588 Website/Phone/Internet $6,578 SUBTOTAL $465,185

Public Information Program:Printing, Publishing, Mailing $23,012 Travel & Exhibits $8,055 Website, Phone/Internet $7,660 Meetings, Equipment Rental $797 SUBTOTAL $39,524

Occupancy Expenses:Mortgage Payments $12,045 Utilities $5,097 Property Taxes/Insurance $8,416 Maintenance $7,200 SUBTOTAL $32,758

Office Expenses:Supplies & Equipment Purchases $16,044 Licenses & Permits $4,483 Website, Phone, Internet $4,206 Bank Charges, Credit $5,342 Postage, Dues, Subscriptions, Gifts $7,501 Accounting $2,500 Equipment Depreciation $7,749 SUBTOTAL $47,825

Fundraising:Printing/Mailing $13,254 Travel, Meals/Lodging $7,046 SUBTOTAL $20,300 TOTAL EXPENSES - 2009 $1,236,307

Summary:Income, All Sources: $1,130,022Expenses: $1,236,307Actual Loss 2009 (incl. depreciation) ($106,085)

Fundraising Costs: 4.2%

Program-related expenses: 79.08%

Administrative Costs: 16.72%

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Inside

E-newsletter

p.1: Hope for Haitip.2: Opinion: Looking Back at 2009p.3: PBteen Pillow Covers Benefit Trees for the Futurep.4: Mali Updatep.7: A Cold Leap for Treesp.8: Teaching with Trees for the Future in Ugandap.9: United States Experience with Tree Palsp.10: Trees for the Future Honored by the Maryland State Legislaturep.10: Praise for Our Brazil Program p.11: Disaster for Our Friends in Uganda p.12: eco Opticsp.13: Trees for the Future, Inc. Preliminary Annual Report – 2009

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Spring 2010 Newsletter