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ATP Plants Another 230,000 Trees Throughout Armenia in 2013

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  • ATP Plants Another 230,000 Trees Throughout Armenia in 2013

    ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
    65 Main Street
    Watertown, MA 02472 USA
    Tel: (617) 926-TREE
    Email: [email protected]
    Web: www.armeniatree.org

    PRESS RELEASE
    December 31, 2013

    ATP Plants Another 230,000 Trees Throughout Armenia in 2013

    YEREVAN--Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has recently completed its ninth year of
    reforestation with the planting of another 174,267 tree seedlings in
    Northern Armenia. This brings the total number of trees planted to 230,451
    in 2013. The additional 56,000 trees were planted by ATP's flagship
    Community Tree Planting program.

    ATP was founded by Armenian-American philanthropist Carolyn Mugar, and the
    organization has now planted a total of 4,455,869 trees since 1994.

    `We're extremely proud of this result,' noted ATP Yerevan Director Areg
    Maghakian. `Our work is planting trees and we've done that with more than
    four million in the ground, but it's also about people. ATP is creating
    green jobs in Armenia and connecting our programs with supporters all over
    the world. It's a truly grassroots effort that will pay huge dividends in
    the future.'

    With help from a substantial grant from Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    in 2012, ATP began planting a new 20 hectare forest site in the town of
    Koghes in Lori. This spring, several thousand pine seedlings were added to
    the existing oak, ash, apple, and pear trees to finalize the forest
    planting.

    In the summer, seasonal workers were hired to maintain the sites reforested
    by ATP. `Because it was such a fertile year, some sites had to be maintained
    twice as the grass had been growing so quickly,' Maghakian emphasized.

    In the fall, dozens of local villagers helped replant tree seedlings in a
    new forest being established in Tsaghkaber. The planting of this site in
    Lori was supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature
    Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of the Federal Republic of Germany
    through KfW as part of its International Climate Protection Initiative. The
    project was implemented by WWF Germany, WWF Caucasus, and WWF Armenia in
    cooperation with the Ministry of Nature Protection, the Ministry of
    Agriculture, and ATP.

    ATP has collaborated with a number of other organizations over the past
    year. This summer, ATP organized a special tour for local media and
    organizations in the environmental sector. The tour included ATP's Mirak
    Family Reforestation Nursery where more than half a million tree seedlings
    are being nurtured, along with the nearby Hrant Dink Memorial Forest and a
    new forest being established in the town of Katnajur. Yerevan-based Deem
    Communications participated in several events with ATP this year, including
    planting trees at a kindergarten in Margahovit.

    ATP has also collaborated with the Homeland Development Initiative
    Foundation (HDIF), an organization which aims to nurture sustainable
    development initiatives in rural parts of Armenia. ATP employees in
    Margahovit discovered Samvel, a talented woodworker who was unemployed
    because he is wheelchair-bound, and introduced him to HDIF, which now sells
    his unique, handmade crafts.

    ATP's newest initiative, announced this fall in collaboration with Sosé and
    Allen's Legacy Foundation, is the Sosé Thomassian and Allen Yekikian
    Memorial Forest. The young couple, who had strong ties both in Armenia and
    the diaspora, lost their lives in a tragic car accident in May 2013.

    `Our goal is to create a living tribute to our dear friends. We're also
    incorporating social media into this campaign,' explained Maghakian. `For
    every new `like' of ATP's Facebook page, five trees will be planted in the
    memorial forest. We hope the effort will attract at least 10,000 `likes' in
    order to plant 50,000 trees and raise awareness of ATP's mission.'

    The municipality of Stepanavan has agreed to lease 73 hectares of land to
    ATP for 25 years and 25 percent of that land will be allocated to the Sosé
    and Allen Memorial Forest, where planting will commence in the spring of
    2014.

    ATP's mission is to assist the Armenian people in using trees to improve
    their standard of living and protect the environment, guided by the desire
    to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the fewest resources first, and
    conserve the indigenous ecosystem. ATP's three major programs are tree
    planting, environmental education, and sustainable development initiatives.
    For more information, please visit the website www.armeniatree.org.

    PHOTO CAPTIONS

    One of ATP's most successful reforestation sites is dedicated to Hrant Dink;
    the memorial planting site was established in Margahovit in 2007 after he
    was killed outside his newspaper office in Istanbul

    ATP employs dozens of people at its three nurseries; these two men are hard
    at work at the Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Margahovit where
    hundreds of thousands of trees are under cultivation


    From: Baghdasarian
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