Lao Lao Finished!

We finished the scope of work for 2006 for the Lao Lao Revegetation Project over the weekend. 35 volunteers and staff from various CNMI Watershed Group agencies planted 120 trees on the deforested hillsides.

While this planting should have been the most difficult to date (because we were hiking to an area of the project that is down a steep hillside), it turned out to be our smoothest planting yet because we are all now experienced tree planters. Instead of forming a human chain to get the trees up the mountain (and then down the steep slope), we made the guys carry six trees each. Although it was slightly more difficult than passing a single tree along at a time, it ended up being much more efficient. We were able to get all of the trees up the mountain in one trip.

CNMI Forestry has already started growing the trees for next year's plantings. We will plant them during the onset of next year's rainy season. In the meantime, we won't have to hike up the mountain trail for another year...unless of course we want to bring more students up there for Outdoor Classrom Experiences.

And pictures from the final day of the project: