COMMUNITY OUTREACH MONTHLY REPORT
NOVEMBER 2018
TREE SEEDLING DONATIONS Tree seedling donations from DSWT field headquarters in Kaluku are normally carried out at local schools; however, this year Kenya’s public schools closed early and so we worked instead with local self-help groups – mainly women’s groups. A total of 1201 Melia volkensii tree seedlings were donated to the groups who divided them amongst the members to be taken home and planted on their farms. Melia volkensii is a relatively fast-growing tree that is indigenous and well-adapted to the dry, Tsavo climate. Once mature, they provide shade and high-value timber that is popular for furniture making. NAME OF THE GROUP
DATE
NO OF SEEDLINGS
Mtito location
2/11/18
200
Kamunyu conservation group
5/11/18
500
Mang’elete self-help group
6/11/18
85
Syusyani women group
27/11/18
416
Total
1201
‘’CHILDREN PLANTING FORESTS” MONITORING Following up from the start of a new tree-planting initiative the previous month, with students from schools bordering Chyulu Hills National Park, a site visit was conducted to check on the status of the project. Delayed rainfall has tempered early optimism; however, there were encouraging signs. Of the hundreds of thousands of seed balls that were distributed in an area in the Park near Kikunduku Primary School, almost all of them had received adequate rainfall to break open the seed balls. Some seeds were even spotted with small roots emerging! We also canvassed 2 of 4 school districts to find out how the children are doing with the seeds that were provided by DSWT for them to participate in a tree planting competition and were very encouraged by what we heard. All the children interviewed had a high germination rate of 1 of 5 species of trees, 20 % of the children reported that at least 4 out of 5 species had germinated and 10% reported that all 5 species had germinated. The rains arrived much later than anticipated, so we expect that some of the hardier species still have a high probability of germinating and growing now that the area has begun to receive several heavy rainfalls.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is reliant on your kind support in order to keep our community outreach projects running. For more information about these projects please visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.com/community or email info@dswt.org