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Photo Story: ATP Greens Community Sites This Spring

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  • Photo Story: ATP Greens Community Sites This Spring

    ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
    57/5 Arshakunyats Street
    Yerevan, Armenia 0026
    Tel: (37410) 44-74-01
    Email: [email protected]

    PRESS RELEASE
    April 13, 2006

    PHOTO STORY: ATP Greens More Than 75 Community Sites in Armenia This Spring

    The photos for this story are available here:
    http://armeniatree.org/atpnews/news_press_04 1306.htm

    YEREVAN--Since the early 1990s, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has been
    successfully collaborating with local communities and institutions to plant
    hundreds of thousands of trees through its Community Tree Planting (CTP)
    program.

    The CTP program begins by surveying the appropriateness of the site and the
    community to receive trees. The program uses criteria such as the
    availability of irrigation water, soil quality, caretakers, and residents'
    enthusiasm for planting and growing trees. With this flagship program, ATP
    has collaborated with people at over 500 sites in Yerevan and every region
    throughout Armenia, including Artsakh.

    On a daily basis, three ATP monitors--Navasard Dadyan, Arthur Harutunyan,
    and Seyran Hovhannisyan--evaluate potential planting sites and visit sites
    that were planted in previous years to check growth rates and provide
    technical assistance. By the end of March, ATP selected 77 community sites
    that were eligible to receive seedlings, and had begun the process of
    helping residents plant nearly 25,000 new trees at schools, senior centers,
    orphanages, hospitals, kindergartens, and other non-profit institutions.

    To ensure a high survival rate at CTP sites, ATP publishes training material
    on tree planting and tree care. Prior to planting, ATP distributes this
    information to local residents and trains them on topics such as the proper
    depth for planting new seedlings, how often to irrigate seedlings, and how
    to monitor the growth of the trees. ATP also distributes hoses, shovels, and
    other supplies and equipment as needed.

    Sites in eight regions of Armenia--Armavir, Aragatsotn, Vayots Dzor, Shirak,
    Ararat, Kotayk, Syunik, and Lori--received fruit and decorative trees from
    ATP for village orchards, backyards, gardens, and common spaces.

    `In a few years, the people in these villages will be able to reap fruitful
    harvests and be in a position to receive great benefits from these trees,'
    emphasized CTP Program Manager Anahit Gharibyan. Last year alone, ATP's
    trees in various communities had a harvest of over 250,000 pounds of
    apricots, apples, peaches, plums, and cherries.

    ATP's nurseries in the refugee villages of Karin and Khachpar produce all of
    the seedlings that are planted by the CTP program each year. Some of the
    neighborhoods in Yerevan that received trees include Malatia Sebastia,
    Davitashen, Achapniak, and Zeytun Kanaker, and ATP planted trees at the
    State Medical University, European Regional Academy, and Genocide Memorial
    Park. The CTP program is planning to plant an additional 125,000 seedlings
    from one of ATP's other nurseries this spring.

    ATP was founded in 1994 with the vision of securing Armenia's future by
    protecting its environment and restoring its degraded forests. ATP advances
    Armenia's socio-economic development by mobilizing resources for large-scale
    reforestation, community-based tree planting, environmental education and
    advocacy, and rural development through job creation. ATP uses trees to
    improve the standard of living of Armenians, promoting self-sufficiency and
    aiding those with fewest resources first.

    Over the past 12 years, ATP has planted and rejuvenated over 750,000 trees.
    With the establishment of the new Mirak Family reforestation nursery in
    Margahovit and expansion of the backyard nursery program in the Getik River
    Valley, ATP's Rural and Mountainous Development (RMD) program is working
    toward the goal of planting over one million trees in 2006. For additional
    information about the RMD program and to support ATP, visit the Web site
    www.armeniatree.org.

    PHOTO CAPTIONS

    1. ATP Diaconia Settlement of Hope.jpg
    Armenia Tree Project worked with families at the Settlement of Hope, which
    was established by the Diaconia Charitable Fund to assist vulnerable
    families; close to 400 fruit and decorative trees were planted by residents
    with ATP on March 27, 2006

    2. ATP Nor Nork planting training.jpg
    On March 29, Nor Nork residents and the Habitat for Humanity youth group
    participated in trainings with Armenia Tree Project and planted nearly 1,000
    decorative and fruit trees; since 1997, ATP has planted over 10,000 trees in
    the Nor Nork community

    3. ATP Parakar village school.jpg
    After receiving lessons on tree planting and tree care from Armenia Tree
    Project staff, over 40 students from grades 6-7 in Parakar Village near
    Yerevan planted close to 100 trees on the grounds of their school on March
    23, 2006

    4. ATP SOS Kinderdorf training.jpg
    Armenia Tree Project worked with children at the SOS Village in Kotayk,
    which was established by SOS Kinderdorf International after the 1988
    earthquake; over 300 fruit and decorative trees were planted by the children
    with ATP on March 27 and April 12

    5. ATP Voskehat village school.jpg
    After receiving lessons on tree planting and tree care from Armenia Tree
    Project staff, over 40 students from grades 6-8 in Voskehat Village near
    Etchmiadzin planted more than 100 trees on the grounds of their school on
    March 28, 2006
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