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PRESS RELEASE
February 3, 2009

ATP Organizes ‘Tree City Armenia’ Competition in Six Rural Villages

YEREVAN–Armenia Tree Project (ATP) initiated a "Tree City Armenia"
competition to encourage the care of decorative and fruit trees planted in
six villages in the Kotayk, Armavir, and Aragatsotn regions. The competition
was proposed by ATP Executive Committee member Moorad Mooradian and modeled
after the Tree City USA program of the Arbor Day Foundation.

After assessing the needs and conditions in Artashar, Irind, Karmrashen, Nor
Artamet, Tsakhunk, and Zoravan, ATP began partnering with families in the
villages by planting decorative and fruit trees at dozens of community
sites. The program was designed to encourage the villages to grow and
nurture the ATP trees, in competition with one another to achieve the best
results.

Several fruit trees were distributed to each family in 2007 and two more
trees were given to each family in 2008. The participating villages achieved
remarkable survival rates of 96-98 percent, which serves as an example for
other villages and communities to follow in the future.

After visiting the planting sites to monitor the results, the winners of the
"Tree City Armenia" competition were announced during a ceremony at the ATP
office in Yerevan on December 11, 2008.

ATP Community Tree Planting program manager Anahit Gharibyan opened the
program with a heartfelt welcoming speech, during which she emphasized the
important role of the participating communities in developing Armenia and
building a better future for the next generations. "Since these communities
achieved such unexpectedly high results, we decided to rejuvenate the
orchards by providing more new fruit trees," stated Gharibyan. "It was
difficult for ATP to decide which village would take first prize because all
of the communities took exceptional care of the trees."

ATP Yerevan Director Mher Sadoyan congratulated the community leaders from
the winning villages and pledged to continue working with them in 2009. "We
would like to continue our collaboration by aiding those communities with
the fewest resources, especially by greening public sites," said Sadoyan.

The first prize went to the head of Artashar Village in Armavir, which
achieved a seedling survival rate of 98 percent. "Artashar has a population
of 1,800 and unfortunately the standard of living is not very high,"
explained Mayor Manvel Ohanian. "Growing trees seemed impossible, so we are
thankful to ATP for establishing a community tree planting program here. All
of our residents did their best to take care of the trees, so I am very
proud to receive this wonderful prize. It belongs to every family and every
single resident who grew beautiful trees on barren land. Personally for me
this moment is very exciting and inspiring."

All six contestants received Certificates of Excellence for their work in
re-greening their communities while also advancing socio-economic growth in
their regions. All of the village sites are now ready for sponsorship by ATP
donors, since they have become models for further investment.

Since 2004, ATP’s CTP program has been collaborating with 15 villages and
5,572 families have received apricot, wild apple, peach, and pear trees. In
2008, residents at 115 sites in Armenia with trees planted by ATP benefited
from a harvest of more than 500,000 pounds of fresh fruit. Already 19,458
trees have been planted by 1,620 families as part of ATP’s "Tree City
Armenia" program.

Since 1994, Armenia Tree Project has planted and restored more than
2,500,000 trees and created hundreds of jobs for impoverished Armenians in
tree-regeneration programs. The organization’s three tiered initiatives are
tree planting, community development to reduce poverty and promote
self-sufficiency, and environmental education to protect Armenia’s precious
natural resources. For additional information, visit the web site

PHOTO CAPTIONS

ATP Irind Village: ATP worked with villages in the Kotayk, Armavir, and
Aragatsotn regions to plant thousands of apricot, wild apple, peach, and
pear trees as part of its "Tree City Armenia" competition

ATP Training: Armenia Tree Project staff trains local residents about tree
care as part of its Community Tree Planting program in urban and rural areas
around the country

Note to editors: Photographs for this story are available in color if you
can use them for your print publication or web site. Please write to
jason@armeniatree.org for color versions of photos if needed.