Reforestation timeline

For 2023, we set high goals for ourselves: another 10,000 trees to plant and expand our tree nursery. It was not easy, but thanks to our team’s dedication, supporters and new partners, we achieved all our goals and more.

The year began not with reforestation but with the expansion of our tree nursery in the early spring of 2023. The nursery is crucial for the sustainable production of saplings locally in Fushë-Lurë, providing trees grown from local seeds and adapted to the local climate.

We have been working with the AKZM and AdZM Dibër on the 2023 planting proposal (location, tree species, methods). During summer, we obtained permission for our planting operation.

10,081 trees planted

The planting area for 2023 is close to the previous planting areas. It also suffered damage due to a forest fire in the past. The area is significantly steeper than the last areas and features a stream (with rocky slopes) passing from top to bottom. The total area of the allocated zone is 14.72 ha. However, due to existing vegetation and terrain constraints, only around 9 ha is available for reforestation, out of which we managed to plant 10,000 trees in the area of 6.38ha.

We executed the planting operation in two phases, and this year, we managed to plant 10,081 trees within two weeks instead of the four weeks it took in 2022. We prepared the area by digging holes during the first week, and the team planted trees in the second week.

Unpredictable weather (rain, snow) caused the planting operation to be delayed by a week and put time constraints on the team as the temperatures dropped quickly.

Of 10,081 trees, 1,081 came from our nursery, and we purchased the remaining 9,000 trees from Fidanishte Xhepi Sh.p.k. in Fushë-Krujë.

We planted the first trees from our nursery

This year was special for us as we planted the first 1,081 trees from our tree nursery, a huge milestone for the project.

The saplings planted this year were grown from seeds collected in 2021 and planted in the nursery in the Spring of 2022. Saplings from the nursery are smaller than commercially available ones but have a massive advantage in acclimatization to the local climate.

We planted these trees in a separate planting area, allowing us to monitor and evaluate the survival and growth rates easily.

Record number of local workers

We were pleased with ever increasing interest from the local community to work with us.

During our first planting operation in 2021, we had 6 workers, and 35 joined us this year. This huge increase has various reasons. However, the main one is that the project has gained the local community’s trust by operating consistently and transparently for the 3rd year.

During our planting operation, we provide equal opportunity for seasonal work to men, women and youth. At the end of each planting day, we pay salaries based on the amount of work done by each worker.

After three years of working with the local community, we have a well-trained, stable team of workers who work with us yearly (which also grows annually), with additional people joining us based on availability. This primary factor allows us to finish the planting operation within two weeks.

Bringing schools and students

This year, we introduced a new way to involve schools with kids from the village of Lurë and around Albania. The main scope was to have educational activities during the planting season as an additional program to the project.

We had an opportunity to show the kids the whole process, from the seeds - to saplings in the nursery - to planting trees in the National Park. We managed to have three separate events with three different schools. Read more, in Update #17.

The interest from schools was higher, but due to the rainy weather during the first days of November, we had to put many on the waiting list.

Successful planting operation in 2021 and positive public feedback led to securing enough donations to challenge ourselves and plant 10,000 trees. We also established a Tree nursery pilot project to grow our saplings.

Thanks to starting smaller in 2021, with only 2712 trees, we gained the necessary experience to execute more extensive planting operations. The logistics of sourcing and transporting planting material, management of digging, planting and cash flow planning must be executed well to deliver a successful planting operation.

We received positive public feedback through social media or our TV appearances in Albania, which led to new relationships with corporate donors (risr/ and Heldenwerbung GmbH) in early 2022. Our presence in Lurë connected us directly with the motorcycling community which regards Lurë as a prime spot for off-road riding due to the famous international Trans Euro Trail leading them through the Lurë National Park. By May 2022, we secured funding for a much larger number of trees than in 2021.

Based on the above, we decided to take up a challenge and set our 2022 goal to plant an ambitious 10 000 Pinus nigra saplings and use the remaining funds to start the Tree nursery pilot project.

The tree nursery pilot project was an incredibly important task to execute in 2022. The tree nursery is crucial not only because producing our saplings will significantly lower the reforestation cost by cutting transportation and sapling purchase costs. It will also produce saplings which fulfil the requirements of the AKZM for planting material allowed for the highest protected areas of the national park. There is currently no supplier in Albania which can provide such saplings and our tree nursery is the first one.

Read all the details about Tree nursery