{"id":1579,"date":"2013-11-15T15:15:47","date_gmt":"2013-11-15T20:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2013-11-15T15:16:18","modified_gmt":"2013-11-15T20:16:18","slug":"1579","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/2013\/11\/1579\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Below, Reforestation Initiative Director Tim Boycott ’16 describes his committee’s accomplishments this year, and explains what they hope to achieve moving forward.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The semester has flown by for most people at Vassar. The leaves are already down in the\u00a0Catskills, and almost there on the farm. Such a rapid passing of time has seen much action on the\u00a0VHP front — especially with the Reforestation Committee. This academic year saw the formation of a\u00a0brand new reforestation team, whose dedicated and enthusiastic students are carrying out the research for and the planning and execution of the initiative’s projects. We meet once a week\u00a0to share updates about each of our various projects and set future goals.<\/p>\n

\"tim\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tim, Director of our Reforestation Initiative, with a guest at Art & Soul. 11.7.13.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the Reforestation Initiative\u2019s well known projects is to plant 100,000 trees on a\u00a0plot of land in Chermaitre. We launched this mission in 2008\/2009, and so far we\u00a0have purchased around 10,000 seedlings using funds raised from\u00a0VHP art sales and donation cards. This year, we’ll continue with this reforestation plan using our recently secured Do-something grant to\u00a0purchase\u00a0equipment for planting and transporting seedlings. Recently, we’ve also submitted a grant proposal to\u00a0American Forests that, if secured, will go towards buying and planting our next set of seedlings.<\/p>\n

\"goats\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wildlife in the Chermaitre mountains.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The figure of 10,000 seedlings planted appears impressive, but we know from more recent\u00a0trips to Chermaitre that only a fraction of those seedlings have survived. Many\u00a0perish on the long journey from nurseries to Chermaitre, and many more are lost once planted, as\u00a0the soil conditions in the village are less than optimal.\u00a0As a result of this realisation, we began researching reforestation practises used in areas of poor environmental health that have improved tree\u00a0survival rates. Our searching soon led us to the field of agroforestry.<\/p>\n

\"1012655_502366019832842_442292243_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Students on our 2013 March Trip.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Agroforestry suggests planting trees and shrubs on plots of land that already\u00a0support crops and livestock. It thus combines agricultural and forestry techniques to create a more\u00a0diverse, healthy, and generally ecologically sound system. This sustainable method ultimately increases productivity.\u00a0VHP had not employed agroforestry techniques in its\u00a0reforestation efforts, even though Chermaitre enjoys\u00a0a level of agriculture. We were initially\u00a0far from experts in the field agroforestry, and sought a collaboration with a knowledgable organisation\u00a0that practises these techniques.<\/p>\n

\"1015252_499704426765668_693148987_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A look at the land.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our search for information soon led us to Smallholder Farmer\u2019s Alliance, a Haitian organisation\u00a0that uses agroforestry techniques for their small-scale community based projects. VHP met with the organisation\u2019s heads, Timote George and Hugh Locke, at one of their NYC events. One thing led to another and, on our trip to Haiti in October,\u00a0VHP representatives met with Timote George once more to discuss routes forward. Now, a\u00a0VHP representative from Chermaitre is due to meet with Timote to get a tour of the organisation\u00a0and its projects. We think our relationship with Smallholder Farmer\u2019s Alliance will prove a\u00a0valuable one, and that it will contribute to the introduction of sustainable agroforestry techniques in Chermaitre.\u00a0The successful reforestation of the land, as well as the associated benefits of increased agricultural\u00a0productivity, will be highly beneficial to the people of Chermaitre.”<\/p>\n

— Tim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below, Reforestation Initiative Director Tim Boycott ’16 describes his committee’s accomplishments this year, and explains what they hope to achieve moving forward.\u00a0 “The semester has flown by for most people at Vassar. The leaves are already down in the\u00a0Catskills, and almost there on the farm. Such a rapid passing of time has seen much action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3909,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1586,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/haitiproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}