Your program keeps growing. In 2006,thanks to your kindness, we were able tohelp people plant 4,100,000 trees world-wide. In 2007 we are already committedto more than double that effort, with thegoal of planting more than nine milliontrees!

Ethiopia: The Building of a ProgramNearly two million of these trees will bein Ethiopia where the Secretary Generalof the United Nations recently said "Thisis where poverty and global warmingmeet!" And so we started off the year bytaking a look at how to initiate this pro-gram, how we may be able to build onwhat has been accomplished and how wecan then keep it growing.

Fortunately, we already have much ofthe needed funding to begin. Much ofthis is possible thanks to the generosityof Andrew Beath and his EarthwaysFoundation in California, and of Dr.and Mrs. Reinhard Hittich (see pictureon page 4) in the Netherlands. Theybelieve, with us, that the only practicalway to address the growing threat of global climatechange is to return tree cover and forests to the denud-ed lands of the developing world.

Already one of our board members, Bedru Sultan,who is also a leader in Greener Ethiopia, is there atwork. The more than 23,000 families participatingwith Greener Ethiopia have developed some importantinfrastructure in the Gurage Zone, about two hourssouth of the capital of Addis Ababa, that many will

benefit from. One family involved in this movement are the Sultans

who reside in Qatbure. TREES has been using theirland for seedling nurseries and seed production forabout three years. Nearby is the Bio Village, a training

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

The quarterly newsletter of Trees for the FutureSpring 2007 Vol. XV, No. 1

The Challenge of Nine Million Trees

continued page 4

Win a Tree Planting vacation - See theEarth Day Challenge page 5.

TREES Technician Gorav Seth leads an agroforestry training session in Tiruvanamalai, India. Read more on page 7.

In lateJanuary, theautomobileshow cameto town. Ittook placeon a brightS a t u r d a y,and sincemy oldflivver nowhas 80,000miles on it,

it was time to look around for some-thing new. Grace and I jumped on thesubway, off to seethe show.

Grace, who drivespretty well but whowould just as soontake a bus, wasalready preparingher "I told you so’s”as we came up outof the station. Wefound we werealready in a line, two or three wide,which wound around the subwayentrance, then around thecorner and down the street ablock, then turned back onitself, right back past thesubway and, to a single doorof the monstrous DCConvention Center, wherepeople entered - one by one.

This was perhaps the mostentertaining and informativepart of the entire show: see-ing the expressions on peo-ple's faces, especially thekids, as they emerged fromthe subway, squinting intothe sunlight and slowly

becoming aware of the first challengethey faced - how to get through thatdoor before the show closed for thenight.

The line moved surprisingly quicklythough, and we were stamped with whatseemed to be a red arrowhead - in casewe wanted to get out of there for a whileand come back in. We soon found get-ting back out would be an even greaterchallenge than getting in as we descend-ed to the lower level and saw an evenlonger line of people waiting to use the"up" escalator.Conclusion: people loooove their cars!

They're will-ing to go tor i d i c u l o u sl e n g t h s ,including carshows, toprove it.They may bemortgaged upto their eye-balls. They

may be eating cat food. But they willstand in line for hours staring at a

Page 2Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Johnny Ipil-Seed News is aquarterly newsletter of TREESFOR THE FUTURE, Inc., anonprofit organization dedicatedto helping people of the world’spoorest communities to beginenvironmentally beneficial, self-help projects.

This newsletter is printed bywind energy on recycled paperwith soy-based ink and is sent toall supporting members toinform them of recent events,plans, financial matters and howtheir support is helping people.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSDr. John R. Moore, Dr. PeterFalk, Mr. Oscar Gruspe, Mr.

Dave Deppner, Mr. HankDearden, Mr. Bedru Sultan

Ms. Marilou Herman

FOUNDERSDave and Grace Deppner

STAFFJohn LearyGorav Seth

Corrie MauldinBrandy & Hamid Lellou

FIELD TECHNICIANSAdam Norikane, Central AmericaChris Wells, Advisor on Asia

Gabby Mondragon, N. PhilippinesDr. Ron Soriano, S. Philippines

Jorge Betancourt, HondurasGuillermo Valle, Honduras

Omar Ndao, SenegalRuth Coleman, Belize

Eugene Edwards, BelizeSubramanian Periyasamy, India

Eben Mensah, GhanaAnne Toomey, VolunteerMatt Gilbride, Panama

For more information, contact:TREES FOR THE FUTURE

The Loret Miller Ruppe Center for

Sustainable DevelopmentP.O. Box 7027

Silver Spring, MD 20907Toll Free: 1-800-643-0001

info@treesftf.org WWW.PLANT-TREES.ORG

Opinion: And They Say We Have Less Than Ten Years to Change Things?

Detroit could care less about theenvironment, about the over-loaded highways, about rising sealevels or drowning polar bears.They've done their marketresearch and it tells them theHummer was a great idea andpeople want more of the same.

John checks out one of ZAP’s fun and affordable elec-tric cars at the 2006 Green Festival.

$60,000 piece of plastic and tin that supposedly gets 17miles per gallon in town (not in THIS town). Worse yet- I was standing right there with them.

The next thing I observed was that in this hall - anarea of six city blocks and two levels high, the hun-dreds upon hundreds of cars displayed looked amaz-ingly similar. In fact, most of them seemed to be tryingto look like Toyotas. And the Toyotas themselves triedto look like last year's Toyotas. Except bigger, withmore gadgets to keep you from wandering across lanesor from running into the car in front of you.Ah, for the days when you drove for yourself and even

fixed your own car.Now I'm not tellingmy age but, when Istarted driving, I was14 and there wereabout 75 million carsin the whole wideworld. Since then,I've been to somememorable carshows. I attended oneback in the 60's whenwe got our first lookat a Mustang which,at that time, wassomewhat more aero-dynamically chal-lenged than a wheel-barrow. Then, only afew years back I had alove affair when theThunderbird was re-invented. But thisyear? Same old stuff, onward and upward, bigger andmore expensive.Any concession toward the global energy crisis? Any

concern about global climate change? There was some-thing there called a "Mini Cooper," and a few cars thatcan run on 5% renewable fuel that nobody seemed tocare about. Plenty of people looking at a new Camarothat sports a 400 horsepower engine. I can hardly waitto be on the same road with that puppy. I'll show him athing or three.Conclusion: Detroit could care less about the environ-

ment, over-loaded highways, rising sea levels ordrowning polar bears. They've done their market

research and it tells them the Hummer was a great ideaand people want more of the same.Should there be conversations about alternative fuels,

clean energy or sequestering carbon emissions, thewaters can be quickly muddied by GM, Ford andExxon-Mobile. And that's how Exxon-Mobil woundup with profits of $39.5 BILLION in 2006.Despite all this, some folks out there seem to be look-

ing for something better. Our website gets busier andbusier. A great number of private businesses are nowsupporting our work, making it possible to developbetter, more beneficial, projects, sometimes on a coun-

try-wide basis, helping more people plant a far greaternumber of trees that help them - and clean the atmos-phere we all share.

With your help, we're out there meeting people,improving our website, showing what's happening toour climate and what your program is doing about thatby helping people and the environment. Who knows?Maybe someday people will go to car shows to seehow we can live sustainably in a rapidly changingworld, how we can survive the crisis we now face.Thanks for all the help you're providing.

Page 3Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Francis Deppner

who can receive training at the several facilities beingdeveloped.There are hundreds of thousands of coffee growers in

the region. Most of these are producing a fine crop onthe very lands where coffee was discovered some3,000 years ago, but world coffee prices have been dis-astrous for several years.

They are asking our help to plant trees to protect thecoffee lands and also for the introduction of new crops,including fruit trees, honey, and even biofuels fromcrops such as jatropha for local use and sale.

Building this Ethiopia program is the greatest chal-lenge we currently face for 2007 and beyond. Assistingmore than a third of a million families, scattered overhalf the vast land of Ethiopia, means training and sup-porting dozens of technicians while learning the needsof all these communities and developing ideas so thetrees bring them a wide range of benefits, sustainably.Fortunately, the local people of this region know they

must make changes and be prepared to make great sac-rifices to give their families a better quality of life. Thepeople of Ethiopia are known for their tolerance andtheir ability to work closely together. And that, togeth-er with your help, is why we know this program willsucceed.

Page 4Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

The Challenge of Nine Million Trees continued...

center established by the Swiss that iswell located and with excellent facili-ties. However, a lack of trainers hascurrently closed the center. Bedru islooking to the surrounding communi-ties for interest in getting the center upand running again.

Between Qatbure and the Bio Villageis a stretch of about eight kilometers, orfive miles, that has been completelydeforested. Through the middle of thisdenuded land runs the Wabe-ShebeleRiver, which is displaying what hap-pens to a river when its watershed isdeforested. One of the our initial goalsis to reforest a large part of that land,about 1,200 hectares, or 3,000 acres,over three years. This will largely beaccomplished by trainees at Qatbure and BioVillage.

A few kilometers further south is the village ofChe'Ha where Greener Ethiopia has developed a large(700 acre) research farm which is demonstrating thebenefits of inter-cropping, introducing new crops suchas triticale wheat, and confinement-rearing of cattle -which is gaining much attention.

It's from this farm that the brand name "HarmonyFarms" first went public with the production andexport of organic honey, which has become very pop-ular in Europe. A new design for modern hives hasbeen introduced, maintaining high quality but greatlyreducing costs and rapidly expanding production.

Nearby is an additional facility, Farm Afrique, whereadditional training and demonstrations have beenintroduced for honey production and livestock man-agement, including a project for the eradication oftsetse flies. This highly practical and cost-effectiveprogram, started by another of the program's commu-nity leaders, Dr. Shimeles, has reduced the populationof tsetse flies in the area by 95%. This program is nearthe Rift Valley has potential to assist farmers andherdsmen of that area as well.

TREES will soon open an office in a town central toall of these activities: Wolkete. Wolkete is on the mainhighway and will be a great location to station one ofour team leaders. From this central point, the programwill be made available to coffee growers cooperatives

Trees for the Future's Founders, Grace and Dave Deppner (left) award alarge tree planting certificate to Greenpower owners Reinhard and

Katharina Hittich (right), who are helping plant 2 million trees in 2007.

from page 1

Page 5Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Editor’s note: Gorav Seth (see cover story) recentlyreturned from Ethiopia where he made a site visit toproject sites:

Every evening while in Butajira, I would go for awalk with my host, Dr Shimeles. A veterinarian bytraining, he became interested in development work10 years ago and has since been deeply involved inmany projects. He showed me the back edge oftown, where a small river, making a slow bend, hascut a deep gorge into the soft rocks. It is an incred-ibly beautiful and lush valley, with two Jacarandatrees blooming on the edge of a verdant meadow,and the shouts of children playing and bathing. Onthe sides of the valley, however, you could easilysee the cliff and hillside eroding away, with the fewremaining eucalyptus trees losing their battleagainst the wind and water. Dr Shimeles told methat when he was a child, this area was covered inthick forests and was full of animals. For fun, kidswould sneak about, trying to surprise the animalsand flush them out, in order to watch them flee.Since then, rapid population growth and deforesta-

tion have destroyed both the habitat for the animalsand the ecology on which local people depend. It isamazing how quickly this has taken place, within thescope of 30 years. We hope that in another 30 years,we will be able to see the return of the old forest, andmarvel over the return of the native fauna.

More from Ethiopia: The Speed of Change

Attention Trees for the Future Members and Volunteers!

The threat of global warming, effects of deforestation, and loss of biodiversity have never been more visible than in this past year. It is crucial that we act NOW!

In the spirit of Earth Day we are holding a competition with a very exciting REWARD!

Between International Earth Day (March 20, 2007) and U.S. Earth Day (April 22, 2007) the person who raises the most money through Public Awareness and Education efforts will win:

A Trip with one of our Agroforestry Technicians to Plant Trees in a developing community in one of our programs

If you are interested in participating, send an email to Brandy at communications@treesftf.org

She will send you a short registration form by email. The forms must be returned ASAP so that we have time to send you any promotional and educational materials you may need.

This Challenge will help Trees for the Future reach our goal of planting 9 million trees in 2007!

Join the Earth Day Challenge - Win a Tree Planting Vacation

The recently released film 'Blood Diamond,' starringLeonardo Dicaprio and Djimon Hounsou, gives us aglimpse of the civil war that began in Sierra Leone in1991 sparked by massive cor-ruption in the trading of dia-monds and mineral resources.If you listen closely, this filmalso whispers of the ongoingtragic theme that engulfs manyAfrican nations in their fightover mineral wealth anddepleting natural resources.

American media gave usbrief coverage of this war during the fighting, followedby a few articles detailing the lives of child soldiersforced to commit atrocities. Then, silence. The strug-gle in Sierra Leone, like those of Congo, Liberia,Rwanda, and others, was forgotten. Now 15 years afterthe conflict began, Sierra Leone continues to bestripped of its vast mineral resources, millions of peo-ple are displaced, and children, without families, strug-gle to survive.

So what is the solu-tion to this country'slegacy of corruptionand violence? We atTREES do not pretendto have the answer tothis difficult question.However, we do knowthat the citizens ofSierra Leone can nei-ther eat diamonds,cook with diamonds,nor grow diamonds intheir fields. Diamondswill not quench theirthirst, feed their live-stock, nor educate theirchildren. And as they now know, they will never seethe money that is generated by these diamonds.Because of this, we have begun encouraging localgroups to look beyond “the glimmer” to the sustainableuse of other natural resources that have a vastly greaterbenefit for securing their future.

Childhelp Sierra Leone (CSL) is one such organ-

ization that believes that the future of its children liesin educating them about sustainable agriculture andeconomic activities. Sixteen youth have been trained

in tree planting and they con-tinue to train others. CSLworks in 26 villages withinthree chiefdoms plantingtrees along roads and hill-sides. Their tree plantingactivities have had a positiveimpact for the communitiesand environment. "Trees arewind and fire breakers and

stop the dust alongside the road. We have seen thereturn of native plant species with improved wildlifeactivities," says Kaprie J G Thoronka, Director ofChildhelp Sierra Leone. The formation of committeesto plant trees has also spawned a village developmentcommittee and water and sanitation committee whichhas led to education and improvement in hygiene, san-itation, management of wells, and other health con-

cerns. Prior to the war,

Childhelp was foundedto help children whohad been abandonedand abused; TREESbegan planting treeswith them in the early90s. Now Childhelpworks with more than200 children that arevictims of the war.Over the last 12 years,through nearly adecade of civil war,Childhelp orphans andtheir communitieshave planted 10,000

trees. We find this extraordinary. Of these, about2,500 trees have survived the turmoil. The children ofSierra Leone, who have experienced the extreme hor-rors of war, are learning that working on the land withyour hands, not only heals the land, but it also heals thesoul.

Page 6Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No.1

Update from Sierra Leone - Blood Diamonds and Soul Trees

Youth leaders repair a well in one of Childhelp's village nurseries.

However, we do know that thecitizens of Sierra Leone canneither eat diamonds, cookwith diamonds, nor grow dia-monds in their fields.

Page 7Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

From the Field in IndiaTREES Technician Gorav Seth recently finished a

three week trip through India. Here are his thoughts:

I have been visiting project sites and partner organ-izations in southern India, firming up old relationshipsand developing new ones with numerous farmers andorganizations. With them, we will help to plant onemillion trees here in the coming year. The scale ofIndia at times seems to dwarf individual endeavors, butcollectively these passionate and committed individu-als are bringing sustainable development to those whoneed it most. These groups are all focused on ruraldevelopment and the environment, and, with the sup-port of Trees for the Future, will be implementingmany agroforestry and reforestation projects in thecoming year.

It is never easy to travel through India, and thesmaller towns require a dedicated effort to reach.Busses are crowded and average around 40 km /hour (~25 mph). And, as this is the wedding season,rooms can at times be extremely hard to find. Intotal I met with over 14 organizations based in sixdifferent regions of Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh, traveling over 65 hours on busses and tenhours on trains in 21 days.

These organizations are tackling some of India'stoughest problems, and are bringing greatly neededsupport and training to rural communities. I metfarmers who are increasing their earnings by incor-porating agroforestry and organic methodologiesinto their systems. Their savings are often realizedfrom not needing to purchase expensive agrochem-icals. I met with women's groups that are workingon developing collective agriculture plots. I sawprojects focused on river protection, mangroveafforestation, protecting and promoting sacredgroves of trees planted around temples, conservingtraditional knowledge of medicinal plants andcropping systems, and developing backyard horti-culture and green tree-rich villages.

Farming Systems:Farming in India is divided between irrigated areas

and drylands, which often lie directly adjacent to oneanother. Irrigated lands are characterized almost entire-ly by smallholdings, with intensively farmed plots of

land ranging from less than half an acre to a couple ofacres. Drylands are expansive, mostly treeless land-scapes, with the exception of the occasional mesquiteor acacia. During good rains, these areas are used forplanting annual crops, typically groundnuts (peanuts)while during dry times they are heavily grazed and, iftrees are present, are used for gathering firewood.

It is amazing to see lush green fields bordered byacres of scrubby wasteland. However, these waste-lands could, even without irrigation, be much moreproductive than they currently are by incorporatingagroforestry systems. They could be producing foodand fodder, while improving the quality of the soil andincreasing water infiltration, all by planting the rightkind of trees.

What is lacking in these communities is knowledge,training, and the seeds to grow the right types of trees- resources which TREES is now providing.

This jasmine farmer shows moringa and leucaena trees he isplanting among his jasmine in Karvellam Patti, Tamil Nadu.

Page 8Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Honduras: 3.2 Million Seeds DistributedIn late February, Corrie Mauldin, our newest tech-

nician, traveled down to Honduras for a week to workwith another new employee of Trees for the Future,Central American field representative, JorgeBetancourt. Corrie traveled from San Pedro Sula toSiguatepeque to Tegucigalpa - the capital - and SantaBarbara. Along with Jorge, Corrie made great strideswith the government of Honduras and FUNDARBOL,a local non-profit, to make our 2007 projectto plant 1.5 million trees throughoutHonduras a reality.

Corrie and Jorge met with six Peace CorpsVolunteers in Siguatepeque who had justreceived seed from TREES and were excitedabout starting their nurseries and participat-ing in the upcoming technical workshop onbareroot planting and nursery maintenance.

In Tegucigalpa, Jorge and Corrie collabo-rated with Guillermo Valle, a hard-workingentrepreneur who runs a local non-profit,FUNDARBOL, which oversees eight nurs-eries that have used seed from Trees for theFuture for previous projects. Guillermo hasalso offered Jorge office space in his newlyconstructed building to work on the 2007reforestation project.

While in the capital, Jorge and Corrie met with theDeputy Minister of Natural Resources and theEnvironment, Jorge Palma. Palma agreed to help fund

38 percent of the project - making this the first timeTREES has financially collaborated with a local gov-ernment to implement a national reforestation project.We welcome such strong local commitment!Furthermore, Patricia Alonzo, with the Office of theFirst Lady, who runs the Programa Escuala Saludables,or the Healthy Schools Program, also agreed to supportthe project in kind - printing 5,000 agroforestry posters

to give to local communities.On their way to Santa Barbara, Jorge and Corrie

were able to meet with representatives of 146 munici-palities involved in the Health Schools Program, initi-ated to improve the health of school children by pro-viding more nutritious meals. According to the Officeof the First Lady, 24 percent of elementary school chil-dren are suffering from malnutrition. All 146 represen-tatives said they were eager to join the project by start-ing tree nurseries in their own communities to helpincrease the fertility of their soil and provide them withsufficient fuelwood. With the help of these communi-ty leaders, up to 300 tree nurseries will be started in thenext two months!

In the district of Santa Barbara, Jorge and Corriemet with local agriculture technician, Roy Lara. Roytook them to Finca Buenous Aries, an environmentaland economically viable coffee farm near Trinidad,that is proving to be an amazing example of agro-forestry. Seventy-five percent of its coffee is ecologi-cally grown, certified by the Rainforest Alliance, an

TREES Central America Coordinator, Jorge Betancourt (left), deliversseeds to Honduran Deputy Minister of the Environment, Jorge Palma.

A Honduras Peace Corps Volunteer receives seeds fromJorge and seed supplier Oscar Ochoa of SETRO.

Page 9Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

organization which certifies those farm-ing operations which take conservationand biodiversity into consideration. Theother 25 percent is organically certified.Shade trees such as San Juan (a localbroadleaf), Leucaena, and Mahoganyhelp to contour the steep landscape andfix nitrogen in the soil, as well as pro-vide timber and other products. On onehillside seven-year-old Acacia treesgrow from seed provided by Trees forthe Future. Banana and other fruit treesalso stand with the coffee, giving thefarm's hillsides a unique mosaic of pat-terns and colors. The technical trainingworkshops for the 25 individuals fromTrees for the Future, the Peace Corps,FUNDARBOL and other local techni-cians involved in the 2007 reforestationproject will be held at Finca BuenousAries at the beginning of April in orderto share techniques and best practices.

After meeting TREES staff at their booth at theDC Green Festival last October, Corrie Mauldinjoined the team in mid-December. Corrie is current-ly working on the TREES project in Honduras andorganizing a trip to East Africa for this fall to providesupport for new TREES projects in Kenya, Tanzaniaand Uganda.

Corrie lived in Cameroon as an agroforestry agentin the Peace Corps. She enjoyed her work immense-ly, traveling from village to village training small-scale cocoa farmers on organic pesticide use and var-ious sustainable farming practices.

When she returned to the US in 2000, she heldvarious field positions in the US, from collecting fishdata in the Bering Sea to eradicating invasive speciesin Washington State. She holds a BS in biology anda master's degree in environmental science and poli-cy from Clark University in Massachusetts.Originally from the West Coast, she enjoys hiking,biking and traveling.

Introducing Corrie Mauldin

Honduras: 3.2 Million Seeds Distributed continued

Workers clearing weeds around seedlings planted on mountainsides through collaboration with a local zinc mining company.

Corrie enjoys a coconut during her recent work in Honduras.

The businesses that support us ARE NOT evil corporations try-ing to make up for their slave labor practices and abuse of the envi-ronment. They ARE, on the other hand, progressive businesses ledby responsible leaders who recognize that businesses must play anintegral role in saving the planet. They recognize that we cannot sitback and expect someone else to clean up this global mess we havecollectively created.

In addition to helping plant millions of trees, TREES' Plant-a-Tree partners are also making tremendous efforts to minimize theirecological footprint. Many have already switched to alternativeenergy sources, and all of them use recycled materials and mini-mize their paper, plastic and energy use. They are aware of the ori-gins of the products they buy and many support Fair Trade andlocally-made products.

In addition to planting millions of trees, our Plant-a-Tree part-ners are doing some incredible things. Here are some examples: - Greendimes.com has helped their members stop over 150,000pounds of junk mail- ZAP (Zero Air Pollution), a world leader in advanced transporta-tion, is promoting and selling vehicles like fuel cell and hybrid cars- James Toyota, in Flemington, New Jersey, is a unique, eco-friendly automobile dealership that has installed recycling andenergy efficiency features that earned it an EPA award- Ecoist.com, NoSweatShop.com and the Oregon SoapCompany are examples of Plant-a-Tree partners who are market-ing environmentally-friendly products - Coffee companies, such as Café Imports and Old BisbeeRoasters, are now working primarily with shade-grown coffee thatis better for the both the coffee farmers and the environment- Yoga practitioners such as Anita McCann Yoga, Bo TreeBodymind Center, Jade Yoga, Karma Yoga Project,Karmapalooza, Total Harmony Yoga, and YogAdventures, inline with their desire to tread lightly on the earth, have also becomemajor supporters- airforce Nutrisoda, a line of sodas with natural fruit flavors andzero sugar, caffeine, sodium or aspartame, is helping make theplanet a better place by encouraging students to take an active rolein tree planting through the Fresh Air Tour- Greenpower, a producer of herbal medicines, organic foods andother health products located in the Netherlands, has pledged tosupport the planting of 2 million trees this year! And the list goeson and on.

We are proud to be the tree planting partners of such a diverseand honorable group of businesses. Find their links on ourPartnerships page http://www.plant-trees.org/partnerships.htm.Support them. Promote them. Tell your friends about them. Andwhen you see them, be sure to tell them TREES sent you.

Page 10Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Green Businesses

Go to the ‘Partners’ page at Plant-Trees.org to learn more about:

Acorn MediaAlternative Treatment International

Anita McCann YogaBo Tree Bodymind Center

Café ImportsCommunity Printers, Inc.

Dream MullickEcoist.com

Free Recycling.comFresh Air Tour

GreenpowerGreen With EnvyGreenDimes.com

Hazelnut KidsInn Serendipity

Jade YogaJames Toyota - NJ

Junk to JewelsKarma Yoga Project, The

KarmapaloozaLiving Tree Paper

MojoCoffeeNatural Oasis Landscaping

Nosweatshop.comNutrisoda - Fresh Air Tour

Old Bisbe RoastersOregon Soap Company

Portland RoastingProgressiveKid

Recycled Products Cooperative, TheRhythm Inlet

Sesa TeaSimmons Natural Bodycare

Skytone Printing and GraphicsSpooky Tooth Cycles

Support with 1040.comTotal Harmony Yoga

Verde EnergyVolkswagen

Wildland AdventuresWorking AssetsYogAdventures

ZAP

As part of her master’s program at AmericanUniversity and Universidad para la Paz in Costa Rica,Anne Toomey spent much of last summer working withcommunities in Nicaragua. Here is her story.

Last summer I received a grant to conduct environ-mental research in the small, rural community of ElArenal, Nicaragua. I arrivedwith proposal in hand, a comput-er full of information on how toconduct participatory research -and not a clue how to get started.I spent the first few weeks walk-ing up and down the dirt roads ofthe community, baking breadwith the local women, and chat-ting with whomever was aroundto chat with. Mornings passedslowly by with a cup of sugaredcoffee and Grandma Mariatelling me the stories of her life.Sometimes I would get up earlyand work the land with the farm-ers. My techniques were often wrong, but they wouldjust laugh and show me the right way again and again.In the afternoons I would visit new friends that I hadmade in the community - housewives, farmers, stu-dents, pastors. We would sit and sip fresco and I wouldask them about how things were and they would tellme how things should be. In the evenings I would goto meetings of all kinds. Student meetings, religiousmeetings, AA meetings, youth meetings, and commu-

nity meetings. It was during one of these meetings that a group of

young people decided that they wanted to do some-thing to improve the deteriorating environmental situ-ation in their community. Like many of the communi-ty members that I had spoken with, they were con-cerned with the recent increase in illegal logging in the

region. They blamed deforesta-tion for the change in rainfallpatterns, the erosion of the hill-sides, and the reduced fertilityof their lands. They wanted toplant trees and they asked me tohelp them. Trees for the Futuresent us seeds and educationalmaterials, and with the help ofDonald, a local agronomist, wewent to work.

Page 11Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Snapshot from Nicaragua: They Asked for Trees

Above: Anne Toomey was one of TREES’ Volunteers of the Year in 2005.

Below left: Working with the community of El Arenal to start a nursery.

Below right: Donald Pérez Gutiérrez, Anne’s researchassistant, is a trained agronomist who is helping the peo-

ple of El Arenal to plant 500 trees.

We repeatedly say that one of the greatest rolesTrees for the Future plays in the global effort to refor-est the world's degraded lands is that are able to distrib-ute important information to the people who need itmost. While Mali and Senegal are neighbors on themap, our project sites in these two countries are sepa-rated by over 600 miles. BUT, our field reps are bridg-ing the divide to find agroforestry technology that willsave their communities from the encroaching desert.

One Saturday morning early last January, MohamedTraore, an agroecologist working with TREES and theAssociation Malienne pour la Conservation de laFaune et de l'Environnement (AMCFE), boarded abus. His destination: Kaffrine, Senegal where TREES'Field Rep Omar Ndao is making a name for himselfthrough the successful agroforestry and reforestationprojects he is leading. Because Senegal is the size ofSouth Dakota and Mali is nearly twice the size ofTexas, Mohamed's trip lasted a whopping 48 hours!

While the trip alone is a story in itself, the mostimportant part of his voyage was what Mohamedfound when he arrived: the 25 villages Omar workedwith to plant a quarter of a million trees in 2006. Wherethere were once just degraded farmlands, trees nowstand. Stands of Acacia nilotica (picture below) andover 20 other species provethat success is possible in theworld's arid lands.

This success in Senegal isnot going unnoticed. PeaceCorps, which has been a partof this project since the begin-ning, is now sending five addi-tional volunteers to aid withthe agroforestry extensionefforts in the area. Senegal’sMinistry of the Environmentand its Sector of Forestry arealso both visiting our projectsites on a regular basis.

Mohamed left Senegal witha dufflebag full of seeds, pic-tures of new agroforestry tech-niques, and an experience hewill now turn into grassrootsaction in Mali.

Page 12Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

West Africa: Bridging the Divide Between Senegal and Mali

Above: Omar (right) and Mohamed visit fields where multipurpose windbreaks areimproving vegetable production. Below: Omar (right) visits a project site where 4-

year old Acacia nilotica trees are bringing life back to what was once degraded farm.

The New York Times recentlyhighlighted successes in combatingdesertification in Niger with refor-estation. We are seeing the same inSenegal and hope to build to thatlevel of success in Mali. With theefforts of leaders like Omar andMohamed, TREES program willultimately plant as many as a halfmillion trees along the southernfringe of the Sahara Desert thisyear.

In addition to our valuable partners inthese projects, including the US PeaceCorps and Association Maliennepour la Conservation de la Faune etde l'Environnement, we also thankour generous supporters, includingAcorn Media, GreenDimes.com, andSkytone Printing & Graphics (seearticle page 10 for more info).

Page 13Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

Bridging the Divide continued

TREES’ Technician HonoredTREES technician John Leary recently

received a Humanitarian Award from OICInternational and USAID for his work in WestAfrica. John has been able to expand programsthat replicate successful agroforestry projects on agrowing scale. His work in the region began in2001 when he served as a Peace Corps Volunteerin Senegal. As TREES’ International ProgramsManager, John has managed to build a WestAfrica program that will plant as many as 500,000trees in 2007.

This honor was specifically awarded because ofhis work with OICI and USAID's Farmer-to-Farmer program in Mali, West Africa. Johnassisted OIC Mali twice in 2006 by deliveringnearly 60 days of on-site assistance in March,August, and September. His work has directlyresulted in significant increases in the amount ofvegetables produced and the number of treesplanted by local communities, as well as greateradoption of soil conservation techniques.

TREES Field Rep, Omar Ndao (right) has helped this local farmer to establish a living fence that protects his fields from

grazing animals and also produces 100% of his own fuelwood.

2006 was a year of rapid growth for TREES. We sawa large increase in membership and support, especiallyfrom private foundations and businesses, both in NorthAmerica and in Europe. We also received an increasingnumber of requests for help to begin projects.

Public Awareness: Most especially, we have seen anenormous increase in public concern for the environ-ment. The September 2005 devastation caused byHurricane Katrina, Al Gore's movie ‘An InconvenientTruth’ in 2006, and the 2007 United Nations ClimateChange Convention in Paris have all sparked intensepublic concern about the issues of climate change andthe role trees play in removing carbon from the atmos-phere.While we point out that trees are planted in your glob-

al program to address a number of important econom-ic, environmental and social issues, none of them areplanted specifically to offset climate change. And yet,by the end of 2006, your organization had helped peo-ple around the world to plant almost 50 million treeswhich, along with other benefits, annually sequestersome 1,300,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

People’s concern over global warming trends werereflected in the increase in visits to out website plant-trees.org. Over 24,000 visits were recorded in 2006.Many visitors became members, including many busi-nesses (see page 10).

Financial: This increase in membership has resultedin an increase in financial support of more than 73%from 2005, to over $500,000. Much of this came at ornear the end of the year, to be used in expanding theprogram in the 2007 planting season.

Program Activities: In 2006 the program assistedpeople in 43 developing countries to plant more than4,100,000 trees. Our staff provided 229 days of on-sitetraining and planning assistance in Haiti, Honduras,Belize, El Salvador, Mexico, Senegal, Mali and thePhilippines. Additionally, we have been able toincrease the diversity of our projects, now with seedsfrom some 23 species of trees available through ourMaryland office where, in 2006, we were able to shipmore than 750,000 seeds to communities around theworld requesting our help.

Technology: A second printing of the AgroforestryTraining Manual was sent to hundreds of additionalcommunity leaders and Peace Corps volunteers. Manyof these leaders have now received their Certificates of

Completion in this course. Our popular postersdescribing the many benefits of tree planting, earlierprinted in English, French and Spanish, are now beingmade available in Haitian Creole, Amharic, Wolof andother languages.John Leary's efforts in Senegal and Mali have result-

ed in the planting of 300,000 trees, including Jatrophacurcas, which produces large quantities of oil whichcan easily be refined into fuel. TREES is earning a rep-utation of leadership in clean energy development.

Alliances: We continue to work together with otherorganizations concerned about the continuing devasta-tion of lands in the developing world, allowing us toenvision a rapid expansion in 2007. New organizationsinclude AMCFE in Mali and FUNDARBOL andSETRO in Honduras. In Senegal and Honduras, PeaceCorps is providing volunteers to assist the new com-munities starting projects. Personnel: Over 2006, it became apparent that our

biggest challenge for the immediate future is findingand supporting good people. We are already committedto plant more than nine million trees in 2007! Toachieve this, while providing the participants the tech-nical support they need, we expanded our staff in 2007,hiring Brandy Lellou, Gorav Seth and CorrieMauldin. Brandy is developing programs for waterpurification and conservation. Gorav is building theprogram for South Asia while Corrie, with BedruSultan, is coordinating the several programs in EastAfrica.

We began 2006 with six local representatives in thePhilippines, Honduras, Belize, India, Senegal, andGhana. By the end of the year we had nearly doubledthis with permanent representatives also in Cameroon,Panama, Mali, and Ethiopia. In the year ahead, we lookforward to having at least 25 people working full timein these developing communities, supported by at leasteight staff technicians.

As scientists pointed out at the recent UN ClimateChange Conference in Paris, at least 80% of the threatof global warming is caused by human activity (or, aswe see it, the lack thereof). They also stated that wehave at best a decade (some say six years) to make theneeded changes. Your program is proving that it is pos-sible to save our environment and turn away the threatof global warming. Please keep helping - and tellfriends about TREES.

Page 14Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

2006 Annual Report

Income

Individual Donations 248,510Corporate Gifts 104,143Foundation Grants 148,735Other (Interest Earned) 1,071TOTAL INCOME $502,459

Expenses

Salaries & Benefits:Salaries 110,994Consulting Fees 2,000Training 2,965SSS, SUTA, other taxes 10,524Health Insurance 11,865Other Benefits 3,382 Total $158,472

International Programs:Int'l Travel & Related 12,357Perdiem & On-Site Expenses 31,591Support: Extension Technicians 11,414Project Materials 11,642Phone, E-Mail, Website 10,775Total $ 77,779

Public Awareness Program:Phone, Fax. E-Mail 7,324Travel, Seminars, Workshops 12,071Postage 12,856Printing 6,902Total $41,143

Office Expenses:Phone, Website, E-Mail 7,325Supplies 6,110Bank Charges 1,430Bank Charges & Service Fees 1,915Equipment Purchase & Repairs 471Travel 2,400Total $19,651

Building Expenses:Property Taxes & Insurance 8,119Mortgage Debt Service 13,873Depreciation 5,697Building Repairs 2,306Utilities 4,426 Total $ 33,421

Fundraising Expenses:Postage 4,948Printing 4,390List Rentals 1,620Total $10,958

TOTAL EXPENSES $341,434

Balance SheetAssets:Checking/Savings 204,453Building 176,664Other Assets 403Total $381,820

Liabilities:Total Current Liabilities 11,333Long Term (Mortgage) 166,678Total $178,011Retained Earnings 42,474Net Income 161,035

TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY $381,820

BREAKDOWN OF EXPENSES:Project-Related 77.25%Administrative 17.52%Fundraising 5.23%

Page 15Johnny Ipil-Seed News Vol. XV, No. 1

2006 Preliminary Financial Statement

17.52%5.23%

77.25%

Address change ?Duplicate Mailing?

Change as shownRemove from List

Mail Changes or Call800-643-0001

Loret Miller Ruppe CenterP.O. Box 7027

Silver Spring, Maryland 20907

Printed by wind energy on recycled paper with soy ink

p. 1 The Challenge of 9 Million Treesp. 2 Opinion: Ten Years to Change Things?p. 5 Earth Day Challenge - Win a Vacationp. 5 The Speed of Changep. 6 Blood Diamonds and Soul Treesp. 7 From the Field in India p. 8 3.2 Million Seeds in Honduras p. 9 Introducing Corrie Mauldin p. 10 Green Businessesp. 11 Nicaragua: They Asked for Trees

p. 12 West Africa: Bridging the Dividep. 13 TREES Technician Honoredp. 14 Annual Report & Financial Statement

Inside THANK YOU, EVERYBODY, for making 2006 a verysuccessful year. We especially wish to mention the kind-ness of the following friends: Dr. & Mrs. Reinhard Hittich,Acorn Media, Bolton Family Fnd, Watersheds Fnd., C.Minor Barringer, Honey Hollow Fnd., Schwab Fund,Stanley Rajnak, Moore Family Fnd. International Fnd.,Garry Trudeau & Jane Pauley, Nulux Inc., DavidLeithauser, International Navigation, Willa Baum, AndrewBeath, Working Assets, New England BioLabs, Aid toAfrica, Rock the Earth, Community Partners, GreenDimes.com, Tryon Family Trust, Charles Delmar Fnd.,Barrington Communication, Danny Levin, Hope Mauran,Environmetrics, Inc., Ronald Crosier, Community Fnd.,Middlecott Fnd., William Stephens, Karl Kohls, Marc &Ruth Dundon, Charles & Kimberly Wheatley, MaryDrazy, John Purcell, Judith Elliot, Power & Twersky,Music Matters, Marjory Roswell, Max Finger, MirkaKnaster, Lola Lloyd Horwiz, Alexander Book Co., SteveHopkins, Mary Queen of Peace Parish, Nancy Accola,Kathlyn Hendricks, Carolyn Heller, Mevatek Fnd.Nature's Creation, Dr. Daniel Barry, Angel Rosenthal,William Blohm, T. Dixon Long, Susan Cooper, Spring-creek Fund., Cottonwood Fnd., Leah May, Miriam Jencks,Glickenhaus Fnd., Ed Vink, Timothy Stillman, SandraLegler, Debbie Kaminski, John Haas, and AndrewHeffernon.

Win a Tree Planting Vacation with our Earth Day Challenge

Learn more on page 5.