ReTree International and the International Lion's Club once again teamed up to successfully complete a student tree plant in Nayarit state in. After 2004's successful first plant the state superintendent of schools announced these plantings would be annual events. On June 16 and 17, 2005, ReTree Board member Tony Sandoval and Juan Garcia, a Lion from San Blas, led the effort on the 2nd planting. With the change in government came a delay in the availability of seedlings. But finally, on March 8-13, 2007, 1000 seedlings were planted by schoolchildren in the San Blas area in the third tree planting effort.
San Blas is a small fishing village about an hour and a half north of Puerta Vallarta. School officials, parents, and students participate in the transportation of the trees from the nurseries, the digging of the holes needed, and the planting. The neem tree (Azadirachta indica) is one of the species they have planted. This fast-growing tree is commonly planted throughout warm climates worldwide.
Each year ReTree tries to schedule this project in June to coincide with the beginning of the local rainy season. We hope to be able to organize another plant next June. 200 students from secondary schools in the villages of Las Varas, Juan Escutia, and Puerto Corillo planted over 400 native guanacaste trees in 2004 in the inaugural plant. Guanacaste trees provide excellent shade in hot climates and their seeds are used for cattle feed. The wood is very durable and has many uses in the local market. Las Varas is located near the Pacific Ocean. This area was hit hard by a hurricane in 2002 and our efforts helped provide trees for the community, replacing those lost in the storm. Nine schools in the San Blas area participated in 2005 and 650 trees were planted. They included a variety of species.
Delayed by the change in government, the third installment of this tree plant took place in the spring of 2007. We were able to obtain 1,000 healthy neem seedlings for planting in the San Blas area. 800 students from the San Blas area planted the trees. ReTree board member Tony Sandoval again was on hand to help coordinate it all.
Originally from south Asia, the neem tree has been called the "village pharmacy" because of it's many uses. The seed, bark, and leaves have been used to combat allergies, diabetes, heart disease, malaria, and many other illnesses. It is used as an effective insecticide, repelling mosquitoes, and it is used as soap and shampoo. Neem grows quickly, can grow on harsh, dry sites, and is a nitrogen fixer.
The work of organizing, choosing the proper trees, and preparing the planting sites is accomplished by local Lion's Club members, who are dedicated to improving living conditions in their communities. ReTree Board members Tony Sandoval and Mark Wilhite helped organize the first plant and also participated. ReTree provided the focus for this project hoping it would be the first of many annual tree plants in the area.
The response from state officals was very positive with plans to expand on this program. The plan was to add tree planting as a permanent part of their curriculum with a goal of planting 10,000 trees at various schools around the state each school year. In addition to the past projects, other tree plantings have occurred in the area. Your help would be greatly appreciated and would provide badly needed support for this project. If you wish to make a contribution through ReTree, click here, and indicate that your donation be earmarked for the Mexico tree plants.
In the summer of 2006 ReTree was contacted by a small nonprofit group from Sierra Leone known as WeCare. This group is dedicated to planting trees and having children participate in the work. The goal is to provide the children with an environmental education experience in addition to the reforestation of their country. In learning about WeCare we realized they have virtually the same mission as ReTree. They are located in Bo, Sierra Leone's second largest city.
The country has recently emerged from a destructive civil war which ravaged the countryside and impoverished many of the people. WeCare is doing extraordinary work with very limited resources and they were contacting groups like ours to see if we could provide some assistance to their efforts. ReTree has made a small financial donation to help them with their immediate work. In addition to planting trees they hope to establish a tree seedling nursery to provide for future sources of seedlings. If anyone is interested in helping out this fine organization, please contact us. ReTree is hoping to provide further assistance in the future.
