We are excited to bring our passion and love for reforestation to tribal lands of the United States. Trees, Water & People’s Planting Tribal Trees for Climate Change project will help mitigate and address climate change effects by planting tens of thousands of native ponderosa pine trees in areas burned by forest fires on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Reforestation at Pine Ridge will:
• Sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gases
• Improve air and water quality
• Reduce soil erosion
• Reestablish wildlife habitat
• Enhance ecosystem resiliency
• Engage Native Americans in the protection of their lands

Over the 125 years that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has managed the Pine Ridge Reservation, it has provided almost zero management of the Tribe’s precious forest resources. As a result, the pine forest has shrunk considerably, and in many places there are no longer enough trees to guarantee sustainability. Recent fires have further degraded forest quantity and quality. No known reforestation efforts, besides that initiated by TWP, have taken place.

Due to Trees, Water & People’s long history and success growing and planting millions of trees around the world, we have been asked to develop a tree planting project on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Our goal is to address the critical need for forest cover and associated carbon sequestration by replanting the legendary pine ridges, while also engaging Native Americans in the reforestation efforts.

To initiate this effort, we established a partnership with the Colorado State Forest Service, who used seeds from South Dakota to grow all the native ponderosa pine seedlings in their greenhouses in Fort Collins, Colorado. This spring, we worked with our local partners on Pine Ridge to identify and select specific tribal lands for our first reforestation project (about 30 acres in total), where we planted 10,000 trees. We also recruited and trained local tribal members to plant the trees.

Currently, we are raising funds to plant 15,000 trees in 2016, creating 10 jobs for local people. Eventually, we hope to expand this important reforestation project to tribes across the Great Plains.

Impact to Date: 10,000 trees planted on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 2015

2016 Projection: 15,000 trees + 10 jobs for tribe members