ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
57/5 Arshakunyats Street
Yerevan, Armenia 0026
Tel: (37410) 44-74-01
Email: info@armeniatree.org

PRESS RELEASE
April 13, 2006

PHOTO STORY: ATP Greens More Than 75 Community Sites in Armenia This Spring

The photos for this story are available here:
1306.htm

YEREVAN–Since the early 1990s, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has been
successfully collaborating with local communities and institutions to plant
hundreds of thousands of trees through its Community Tree Planting (CTP)
program.

The CTP program begins by surveying the appropriateness of the site and the
community to receive trees. The program uses criteria such as the
availability of irrigation water, soil quality, caretakers, and residents’
enthusiasm for planting and growing trees. With this flagship program, ATP
has collaborated with people at over 500 sites in Yerevan and every region
throughout Armenia, including Artsakh.

On a daily basis, three ATP monitors–Navasard Dadyan, Arthur Harutunyan,
and Seyran Hovhannisyan–evaluate potential planting sites and visit sites
that were planted in previous years to check growth rates and provide
technical assistance. By the end of March, ATP selected 77 community sites
that were eligible to receive seedlings, and had begun the process of
helping residents plant nearly 25,000 new trees at schools, senior centers,
orphanages, hospitals, kindergartens, and other non-profit institutions.

To ensure a high survival rate at CTP sites, ATP publishes training material
on tree planting and tree care. Prior to planting, ATP distributes this
information to local residents and trains them on topics such as the proper
depth for planting new seedlings, how often to irrigate seedlings, and how
to monitor the growth of the trees. ATP also distributes hoses, shovels, and
other supplies and equipment as needed.

Sites in eight regions of Armenia–Armavir, Aragatsotn, Vayots Dzor, Shirak,
Ararat, Kotayk, Syunik, and Lori–received fruit and decorative trees from
ATP for village orchards, backyards, gardens, and common spaces.

`In a few years, the people in these villages will be able to reap fruitful
harvests and be in a position to receive great benefits from these trees,’
emphasized CTP Program Manager Anahit Gharibyan. Last year alone, ATP’s
trees in various communities had a harvest of over 250,000 pounds of
apricots, apples, peaches, plums, and cherries.

ATP’s nurseries in the refugee villages of Karin and Khachpar produce all of
the seedlings that are planted by the CTP program each year. Some of the
neighborhoods in Yerevan that received trees include Malatia Sebastia,
Davitashen, Achapniak, and Zeytun Kanaker, and ATP planted trees at the
State Medical University, European Regional Academy, and Genocide Memorial
Park. The CTP program is planning to plant an additional 125,000 seedlings
from one of ATP’s other nurseries this spring.

ATP was founded in 1994 with the vision of securing Armenia’s future by
protecting its environment and restoring its degraded forests. ATP advances
Armenia’s socio-economic development by mobilizing resources for large-scale
reforestation, community-based tree planting, environmental education and
advocacy, and rural development through job creation. ATP uses trees to
improve the standard of living of Armenians, promoting self-sufficiency and
aiding those with fewest resources first.

Over the past 12 years, ATP has planted and rejuvenated over 750,000 trees.
With the establishment of the new Mirak Family reforestation nursery in
Margahovit and expansion of the backyard nursery program in the Getik River
Valley, ATP’s Rural and Mountainous Development (RMD) program is working
toward the goal of planting over one million trees in 2006. For additional
information about the RMD program and to support ATP, visit the Web site

PHOTO CAPTIONS

1. ATP Diaconia Settlement of Hope.jpg
Armenia Tree Project worked with families at the Settlement of Hope, which
was established by the Diaconia Charitable Fund to assist vulnerable
families; close to 400 fruit and decorative trees were planted by residents
with ATP on March 27, 2006

2. ATP Nor Nork planting training.jpg
On March 29, Nor Nork residents and the Habitat for Humanity youth group
participated in trainings with Armenia Tree Project and planted nearly 1,000
decorative and fruit trees; since 1997, ATP has planted over 10,000 trees in
the Nor Nork community

3. ATP Parakar village school.jpg
After receiving lessons on tree planting and tree care from Armenia Tree
Project staff, over 40 students from grades 6-7 in Parakar Village near
Yerevan planted close to 100 trees on the grounds of their school on March
23, 2006

4. ATP SOS Kinderdorf training.jpg
Armenia Tree Project worked with children at the SOS Village in Kotayk,
which was established by SOS Kinderdorf International after the 1988
earthquake; over 300 fruit and decorative trees were planted by the children
with ATP on March 27 and April 12

5. ATP Voskehat village school.jpg
After receiving lessons on tree planting and tree care from Armenia Tree
Project staff, over 40 students from grades 6-8 in Voskehat Village near
Etchmiadzin planted more than 100 trees on the grounds of their school on
March 28, 2006