Trees For Elephants

11,000 trees for the wild elephants in Salakpra

June 18th – Today 11,000 trees have been planted for the wild elephants of Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary. Over three hundred volunteers went to work after the opening ceremony: villagers from close-by, soldiers, students from Bangkok and from the Green Campus in Helmond (the Netherlands), rangers from the reserve, and employees of our partner organization Elephant Conservation Network. It’s not easy, organizing such a large group of volunteers at three locations in the jungle. After seeing the seedlings and the holes in the ground, most of the volunteers got to work immediately. And early in the afternoon the job was done. Another 11,000 trees added! The Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary is in great need of more biodiversity. This is why we– just like last year – have planted trees among the existing trees. This way we will step by step help the elephants find more (divers) food, make sure nature can recover, and give the elephants a better chance to survive. In short, everything Trees For Elephants stands for.The three planting locations had been prepared in the previous weeks by day laborers from the area near the reserve. During the course of one week 11,000 holes were dug. Because of this, planting went along very fast. All of the seedlings were grown by Lung Waan and his daughter Rung of the tree nursery we set up last year. Fantastic how they have collected the seeds in the reserve, and have grown the trees with such care. During the next few months there will be more planting, checking the trees, and fertilizing and weeding. In the rainy season the newly planted trees will be overgrown in a month.