There have been many developments in the Native Tree Nursery Project that we started in April 2020. Peter Donaldson–the Graduate Student from University of Arizona–finished his capstone project in August 2020 having supervised the construction and planting of the nursery in Sawla from afar due to Covid preventing his return. You can see the nursery on the north side of the road (right side) as you enter Sawla from the East. Over 2000 seedlings from seven tree species have grown and are being replanted now in school yards in Savannah Region. In April 2021, Peter returned to Ghana, and he and Rashid Iddrisu met with teachers at these schools and helped them to replant the seedlings with students. They are now planning to build native tree nurseries at the schools, and will expand the project across Savannah Region as funding permits. So please donate if you want to reforest Savannah Region!
We hired a very experienced traditional hunter to go into deep into the forests at Rosewood tree seeding time because WIACT staff and volunteers were not able to find any trees near villages, roads, or outer forests. The hunter’s son is shown above with the seeds that were brought to our project. Children are collecting recycling discarded clean water bags as containers for germinating the seeds, and as a result, Sawla is also getting beautified and cleaned of plastic trash.
We are partnering with CEHDAGHANA who are helping with the replanting of trees at schools, and with monitoring the growth and development of seedlings in the nurseries. An interesting event: some seedlings suddenly started dying and some seeds would not germinate. Upon investigation after dark, WIACT staff and volunteers found 70 frogs and toads (seven different species) had decided to climb into the germination bags and settle at the roots of these new tree babies! They were collected and taken to a different water source, but it was exciting to find this out as frog and toad species are imperiled all over the planet.
Savannah Region still has them! And we are tracking how species who rely on our native trees for life and nourishment and shade and water…are coming back as we grow these beautiful species!
