183.487 seedlings planted in April

As nature breathes life into our seedlings, spring planting season has ended with a great number of trees planted and the highest number of people involved!

The planting year of My Forest Armenia consists of two seasons: Fall Planting and Spring Planting. Last fall, we planted 243,000 trees. We were aiming for 160.000 pine trees to be planted during Spring 2022. With that, we would reach the medium term objective of our organization, i.e. 400.000 trees per year.

Tackling challenges

As happened in 2021, winter manifested itself late again and it shortened our planting season. We were hoping to start planting on March 15th, instead heavy snowfall came and the snow covered the hills until the beginning of April. We finally started planting  on April 10th.

Fortunately, we were able to hire more people than we did for the previous seasons. A record 140 people from seven different communities came every day to work. From morning till evening, our workers were planting up to 15,000 trees daily.

Work was in full swing at the nurseries too. Every morning nursery workers were taking out up to 15.000 pine seedlings to send to the planting areas. They were carefully preparing them by wrapping them in wetted jute cloth so the roots would not be damaged and remain moist during transportation.

Exceeding expectations

Our last day of planting was on April 25th, spring had started in earnest and plants were rapidly coming out of their dormancy period precluding any transplanting.

Nevertheless, thanks to the enthusiastic and relentless efforts of the whole team, we accomplished excellent results: 119,193 pine seedlings and other tree species and shrubs were planted in the Jrashen afforestation area, 2,950 pine trees and shrubs were planted in Dilijan National Park  and 61,344 pine seedlings and other tree species were replanted in Shirakamut. In total, 183.487 trees in 15 days!

Volunteers planting in Jrashen

This spring we had the pleasure of welcoming volunteers to our planting sites. Two donor companies, Questrade and Idram.

Questrade sent 55 employees on April 16, and on April 23 Idram came with 150 employees. The participants enjoyed their day very much. They participated in many aspects of forest creation: planting, mulching, watering, etc. We welcome such public participation, as it helps them appreciate the immense efforts that go into reforestation. We hope more volunteers will join in late spring and early summer to help water the young plants in case of drought.

Maintenance work

The activities of My Forest Armenia do not start and stop with planting. After planting, maintenance is critical to ensure that seedlings survive and become mature trees. Our workers will soon start the process of mulching every plant in order to ensure that the soil remains moist during warmer and dryer days.

We all need to be involved

Planting is of course the most visible part of our work but our team works hard all year round for the reforestation and afforestation process. The activities mentioned above became a reality thanks to our numerous and generous donors. We thank you for your support and for making all this possible.

Certainly, we have reached an important milestone this year but we cannot rest on our laurels. We are keenly aware that there is still much to be done if we want to make a difference for the climate of this planet. We are aiming now to double the numbers of trees planted yearly by 2025. This will require a bigger team in an even more efficient organization and of course more support.

Forests need us to actively protect them and help them expand, as they are crucial for maintaining life on Earth. If everyone participates, we will easily reach and even surpass our goal.

If you have not done so yet, join us today