Ecologist Ferdinand Grigoryan to Take Home Know-How for Vanadzor Nursery
By Daphne Abeel
Armenian Mirror-Spectator
September 25, 2004
WATERTOWN, MA–Massachusetts’ forests, farms, nurseries and arboretums have
proved a fertile research laboratory for Armenian ecologist Ferdinand
Grigoryan, who is in the US for seven weeks, to learn and collect
information for Tsiatsan (Rainbow), the environmental NGO which he founded
in 1997.
Now working in partnership with the Armenia Tree Project (ATP), Grigoryan
has visited Levon Kachadoorian’s Everlast Nursery in Leicester, Concord’s
Walden Pond, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, Mahoney’s Rocky Ledge Nursery in
Winchester, various supply stores and talked to a local Armenian-American
farmer, Krikor Soujian, about his corn crop. Each visit has been an
opportunity to study planting and cultivation techniques, or to learn about
how small retail nurseries work.
What he has absorbed he will take back to Armenia where Tsiatsan’s main
project will be to develop a 15-acre reforestation nursery in Vanadzor, in
the Lori district, which by 2006, is hoped to have the capacity to produce
one million trees a year. The goal is to plant trees that are indigenous to
Armenia such as maple, oak, linden, walnut and beech.
“Mainly, I am learning about how people care for the environment here,” said
Grigoryan in an interview at ATP’s headquarters. “The idea of protecting the
environment is still new in Armenia. There is a lot that needs to be
grasped, not just about protecting the environment, but new growth
techniques that can be applied in agriculture.”
Grigoryan will be taking seeds home for testing as well as books and some
specific implements such as sprinkler heads, which will be used in the
irrigation system at Vanadzor. But, it is education that will ensure the
long-term success of environmental and reforestation projects, he said.
“Trees were being cut down at a great rate in the early ’90s, due to the
energy crisis. But people have learned that deforestation leads to
degradation of the soil and to erosion. We now have a program in the Lori
schools about environmental protection. We want to educate the students to
become stewards of the land,” he said.
To reach people who live in rural areas outside of Yerevan, Grigoryan plans
to produce a series of television programs on the environment to air twice a
month on community stations free of charge.
“We especially need to train people who are dependent on the land. If they
cut down a tree, we are teaching them to plant a tree to replace it,” said
Grigoryan. “In this way, we can change people’s psychology. Someone who has
planted a tree is much less likely to cut it down.”
There are signs that Armenia is beginning to pay more attention to its
environment, said Grigoryan. “Some legislation has been passed, and the
Armenia Forestry Agency has been transferred from the Ministry of
Environmental Protection to the Ministry of Agriculture. All of these
ministries have a limited budget. But, as an NGO, Tsiatsan can have access
to the top professionals in Armenia, in topography and many other fields.”
Also, Yerevan State University and more importantly, community colleges are
beginning to teach courses on ecology and protection of the environment. And
the Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC) is encouraging their members to help with
environmental education in the schools.
He added, “The Armenia Tree Project has done a tremendous job in Armenia.
They are a great partner for us. There is no organization like it.”
Grigoryan said he had a special appreciation for what has been accomplished
at Walden Pond.
“I wanted to learn how natural forests are being protected,” he said. “There
is no cutting of trees there and when erosion occurs, the problem is
addressed immediately. I admire the way the area has been conserved, and
there is a relationship there between the animals and people that I haven’t
seen before.”
While he was here, Grigoryan visited St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary
School and invited the students to come to Armenia, meet students there and
work on the Vanadzor planting project.
Beyond planting trees, Grigoryan said, care and maintenance are extremely
important. He cited a recent case of the fir trees planted at Echmiadzin in
honor of all previous catholicoses. The trees died soon after as a result of
neglect.
“The NGO involved in the planting should have been responsible for the
maintenance. The trees were not watered properly. Yes, people should have
been educated to take care of them, but there should be accountability,” he
said.
Grigoryan concluded, “Each tree I plant is for the future and for future
generations. And each generation can do this. It’s very important. This is
the most important work of my life.”
Photo: Left to right, Ferdinand Grigoryan with Chris Adanalian of Armenia
Tree Project and Everlast Nursery owner, Levon Kachadoorian
Photo: The irrigation pipeline at Tsiatsan’s nursery project in Vanadzor