Reforestation Projects: The June 2021 Update

Planting Trees, Restoring Forests Across the Globe

Another month has flown by and you know what that means: another Reforestation Update that's chock-full of project stories, fun facts and tree puns to brighten your day! From Haiti and Minnesota to Mexico and California, tune in for some fresh-from-the-field updates courtesy of our awesome forest ambassadors Kyleigh and Nicole!

Here's Our June 2021 Reforestation Update!

Want to Learn More About the Projects We Featured This Month?

In northeast Haiti, we completed our planting of 58,000 mangrove trees on 25 hectares of salt marsh along the coasts of the Glaudine section in the town of Jackzyl. The newly planted mangroves will protect the community from coastal storm systems and help improve Haitian coastal biodiversity by reconstituting ecological niches that native species depend on.

The project will also help increase economic stability for the local community by restoring 18 degraded salt basins, which are essential to the local cooking salt industry. As part of this effort, our partner will teach them to harvest salt more sustainability and produce a better quality product. And as a result of the increased income, more parents will be able to send their children to school, thus providing lasting, multi-generational impact. 

In Minnesota, we finished planting 430,000 native trees including Red Pine, Jack Pine, White Pine, White Spruce, Tamarack and Red Oak at multiple sites across the Chippewa National Forest. Planting trees here has cross-purpose benefits including restoring forests damaged by wind, insect infestations and disease, protecting critical bald eagle nesting sites for approximately 150 mating pairs, increasing climate change resilience, benefiting the local Ojibwa community by protecting important historical and architectural sites, and more!

Large red and white pines in the National Forest make excellent bald eagle nesting sites, and as a result Chippewa supports one of the highest breeding densities in the continental United States. Restoring these pine stands will ensure that bald eagles continue to have nesting habitat here for generations to come. 

In our tree planting project in Mexico, we've begun planting 40,000 native tree species across 77.1 hectares in La Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Gorda in Querétaro and the municipality of Ameca in Jalisco. Portions of these two rugged and beautiful regions have lost trees due to animal grazing, soil erosion and illegal logging — and will be reforested and maintained by women and youth from the local communities, under the guidance of an environmental biologist.

The project will empower the women of the Rio Blanco, Cuatro Palos and El Magistral communities and middle school age children who participate in the Sierra Gorda program “Ecochavos” by providing exposure to people outside their communities, and by raising their social and environmental awareness through a basic education program. All communities involved will also benefit economically through direct compensation for their participation in the tree planting.  

And finally, this month's deep dive finds us in Northern California's Butte County, where we were able to plant 814,209 trees across 5 counties, 4,029 acres and 8 private landowner properties. The trees planted are helping to restore coniferous forest lost during the 2018 Camp Fire and other Northern California fires. As our largest post- wildfire restoration project ever in California, we're proud of what we've accomplished together with the local community and our amazing reforestation partners. 

The Camp Fire of 2018, also known as the Paradise fire, was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history. Within twenty-hours, an estimated 70,000-acres were burned. By November 25, 2018, the fire had consumed 153,336-acres (62,052-hectares), destroyed 18,804 structures, bankrupted the largest utility in the state, and led to the tragic loss of eighty-six lives. 

We're inspired by the resilience and determination of everyone involved, including landowners who lost everything in the fires and have to rebuild from the ground up. As the Western United States continues to experience drought conditions and long periods of dry weather, wildfires are going to keep happening, but everywhere we can, we'll be there planting trees to help restore fire-damaged forests!

Thanks for tuning in to our update, we'll see you next month! Miss us already? Check out the One Tree Planted Youtube channel for more awesome videos. And don't forget, we have plenty of other awesome tree planting projects like these. Support reforestation today!