How To | The Gifted Tree

How a Leap Year Tree Can Solve Deforestation – Leaping To a “Logical” Conclusion

As we all know, this Saturday, February 29, 2020, is a Leap Day . Leap year is a calendar year that contains an additional day added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365 days, as we are taught early on. Because astronomical events and seasons do not repeat in a whole number of days, calendars that have the same number of days in each year drift over time with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track. By inserting an additional day, the drift can be corrected.

The Leap Year Tree – a New Tradition

There are several traditions around the world associated with Leap Year, but none in the United States as far as we know. While we know every day is a great day to plant trees, The Gifted Tree proposes that leap day, February 29th, become an extra special day to plant trees. If you follow our logic, which I will explain in a moment, the world’s deforestation issue will certainly be helped.

Leap Year History

First of all, some history – The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE and replaced the Roman calendar. Julius Caesar’s goal was to simplify things and he was behind the origin of leap year. However, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII further refined the calendar (the Gregorian calendar) with the rule that leap day would occur in any year divisible by four. This is the calendar that we in the United States use today.

Leap Year – Historical Traditions

Regarding historical leap year traditions, February 29 is a big day in Ireland and is known as Bachelor’s Day, the day where women are encouraged to initiate dances and propose marriage. According to an old Irish legend, St. Brigid struck a deal with St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men – and not just the other way around – every four years. This is believed to have been introduced to balance the traditional roles of men and women in a similar way to how leap day balances the calendar.

In Scotland, it used to be considered unlucky for someone to be born on leap day, just as Friday 13th is considered an unlucky day by many. Greeks consider it unlucky for couples to marry during a leap year, and especially on Leap Day. Leap day is also St. Oswald’s Day, named after the archbishop of York, who died on February 29, 992. And in many European countries, especially in the upper classes of society, tradition dictates that any man who refuses a woman’s proposal on February 29 must buy her 12 pairs of gloves. The intention is that the woman can wear the gloves to hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. During the middle ages there were laws governing this tradition!

The Leap Tree Frog

None of those traditions seems to have carried over to this country, but as stated above, The Gifted Tree proposes that Leap Day be an extra special day to plant trees. Follow our “logic” and I think you will agree. Leap Year and Leap Day are, for logical reasons, associated with frogs. And Tree Frogs are very popular. And what do Tree Frogs like? Trees of course. Thus, we need to plant more trees so that the habitat of the tree frog is perpetuated and we will always have tree frogs to dazzle us.

“Logic” Wins Out

But just as important to helping tree frogs, if we plant a tree on Leap Day, February 29th, in a hundred years when trees when trees not planted on leap day will be reaching their life span, our Leap Year trees will only be 25 and in the prime of their existence!. The trees we plant on February 29th will last four times as long and will help solve the earth’s deforestation problem. A simple solution with far-reaching benefits: Helping the habitat of our tree frog friends and increasing the globe’s tree canopy.

Do Your Part

So, this Saturday, February 29th, as the sun starts to rise, help start our new tradition of planting Leap Trees, be it in celebration or in memory, and give the world an extra-lasting gift too!

February 25, 2020/by Doug Bell

How To

How To Know The Right Time To Send a Tree Gift

At The Gifted Tree we speak to many customers every day. Most are calling to plant a memorial tree for a family member, friend or someone they did not even know but are related to someone they know. They are genuinely touched to be able to connect with someone special to them and know that it helps the recipient in a time of grieving. Before ending the call with the customer, I always mention to think of The Gifted Tree during happier times, such as a wedding or birthday. This surprises them and the most common response is “Oh, I never thought about that as an occasion to plant a tree.” The fact is a gift tree in honor or celebration fits any occasion and boy does this world need to plant more trees!

The World Needs More Trees Planted

The news is full of stories about the growing deforestation issue in this country and around the world. The Australian bushfires are currently a daily news item and before that is was the fires in the Amazon rain forest. Fires are not the only destructive element existing. Disease is another major issue. Just this past week, my newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio had a headline talking about the shrinking tree canopy (https://bit.ly/2GyQwHK ). In the last decade, 5,000 football fields worth of trees are gone, and that is in only one county. The emerald ash bore is a major culprit (I lost 10 ash trees in my back yard in the last year to this disease), but so are more violent storms caused by climate change. Clear-cutting for suburban residential and industrial projects is another big factor. And this problem is not going away. Millions and millions of trees will need to be planted, and The Gifted Tree is here to help.

A Gift Tree Fits Any Occasion – Even Happy Ones!

When a colleague loses a parent or a friend’s dog dies, planting a memorial tree is an ideal way to express sympathy. But as mentioned above, gifting a tree fits every occasion. A birthday tree makes sense, especially for an older person who probably doesn’t need another “thing.” A wedding is another occasion where a gift tree will resonate with the couple as they look to establish their roots. Miss the wedding gift opportunity, don’t fret, a first or fifth anniversary gives you another opportunity. The first anniversary is the paper anniversary (paper comes from trees, get it?). And something I just learned; wood is the traditional gift for the fifth anniversary, so a tree fits perfectly.

Other situations also call for the planting of a gift tree. Acknowledging a teacher or coach who has gone above and beyond as well as honoring the birth of a baby who will grow as the gift tree blossoms and grows. Celebrating landing a dream job, getting a promotion or moving into a new home, all gift tree giving opportunities.

Don’t forget about planting a gift tree for a retirement or graduation. Or just a general “thinking of you” tree where you can let the recipient know that our lives are happier, richer, and more beautiful because of you, and with the planting of this tree in their honor, now our world will be too.

Gift Trees To Celebrate a Holiday? Yes!

But another reason I bring this up is that holidays are a perfect opportunity to give a gift tree. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, surprise a sweetheart with the planting of a gift tree. He or she will be more than touched by the gesture. They will realize that this is a gift to the world too!

Gift Trees – A Gift To The World Too

As you can see, there are many ways to celebrate or honor someone with the planting of a gift tree. And at The Gifted Tree, you can let your writing talents shine through too as each certificate has space for a custom, personalized message. But don’t stress if you struggle to find the right words. We all do from time to time, and The Gifted Tree can take a little weight off your shoulders by offering a range of heartfelt message options for you to include on your gift tree certificate. You can write your own message or use one of our suggestions. Either way, we’ll make sure your voice and your sentiments shine through. When all is said and done, not only does planting a gift tree fit every occasion, but you are giving the world a gift too!

January 30, 2020/by Doug Bell

How To

Support Our Military Kids & Help Fight Climate Change w/ our Trees for a Cause Program

The Gifted Tree has always helped the earth by planting trees worldwide to counteract the devastating effects of forest fires and climate change, but we have added a new wrinkle. Your gift tree will still help you connect with someone special to you and give the world a gift, too, but now you can also help support a meaningful cause.

Announcing Our Trees for a Cause Planting Program

The Gifted Tree’s Trees for a Cause charity donation program is a win-win-win partnership. Win 1 = Connect on a personal level with someone important to you and show them you care. Win 2 = By planting a tree, you are helping the earth, counteracting the devastating effects of forest fires and climate change. Win 3 = Directly help the hard work of a worthwhile cause by planting your gift tree in a charity-specific “Giving Grove,” located in a U.S. National Forest. When you choose our Trees for a Cause program, The Gifted Tree will donate 10% of the purchase price to that organization to help fund their valuable programs.

Our Military Kids Partnership with the Gifting Tree

Our first partnership is with Our Military Kids. Their “Giving Grove” is called the Empower Tree Grove and is located in a U.S. National Forest. Since 2004, Our Military Kids has empowered military kids by funding sports, arts, and other enrichment activities when their parents are deployed overseas with the National Guard or Reserves or recovering from severe injuries sustained in a post-9/11 overseas mission.

National Guard and Reserve families sometimes have trouble accessing support services from military installations. During deployments, these families may lose income when their military member leaves a civilian job to accept a military position overseas. The loss of income and lack of resources can create gaps that are hard on families. Our Military Kids fills these gaps with a simple grant program that pays for their children’s activities.

When military members are injured in service to our country, their families face many changes. They may have to move closer to medical care or change their comfortable routines. Children must often take a back seat while parents deal with more pressing issues related to medical care, financial strains, and other adult responsibilities. Our Military Kids grants ease the financial strain on parents while giving their children the chance to participate in positive activities that will help them laugh, grow, and feel connected to the community.

The History of Our Military Kids

In early 2004, Our Military Kids started small, with a pilot program focused on a National Guard unit from Winchester, Va. The pilot program was extremely successful, and they expanded to help all deployed Reserve and National Guard families living throughout Virginia.

Calls from deploying soldiers were sometimes heartbreaking. Feeling the need to help more children cope with the challenges brought on by lengthy separations, Our Military Kids began covering families living in Maryland, the District of Columbia and, eventually, the entire United States.

In 2008, Our Military Kids expanded its program once again, this time to include children of service members and veterans from all branches of service who were severely injured in post-9/11 combat operations, and whose families were struggling to deal with financial and emotional hardships.

Today, Our Military Kids is a national organization, funded entirely by private donors, foundations and corporate sponsors. Since its inception, the group has provided more than 67,000 grants to military families across the country, allowing military kids the opportunity to participate in sports, arts and other activities while their parents are deployed or recovering from severe injuries sustained in combat. Participation in these activities helps military children cope with stress and build self-confidence while their parents are recovering or serving overseas.

4-Star Rated Nonprofit Organization

While The Gifted Tree is so impressed with the mission of Our Military Kids, we are also attracted to the group’s financial acumen and transparency. Our Military Kids has earned the highest possible 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator, the leading charity watchdog organization. Because of the group’s careful money management, a high percentage of donation dollars is going directly to fund kids’ grants, something that is important to The Gifted Tree and guided its decision to include the organization in our Trees for a Cause program.

How Our Charity Tree Donation Program Works

If you want to plant a tree in memory of, in celebration of or in honor of someone close to you and make a difference in a child’s life, consider our Trees for a Cause option. Ten percent (10%) of the purchase price of your gift tree will be donated to the organization to directly help fund its programs, which can ease stress for military kids by paying for participation in sports, fine arts, & tutoring programs while their parents are serving their country overseas or recovering from battle wounds.

Back our charity donation program by choosing the Trees for a Cause planting location and help support Our Military Kids.

November 26, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

How To Counteract The Ravages of Deforestation

Half the World’s Trees Gone

The destruction of many of the world’s forests is occurring and occurring swiftly. Whether the deforestation going on globally is causing climate change and global warming is sometimes debated, but it is pretty much universally agreed that one simple deforestation solution is to plant more trees. It is a cost-effective way to help and The Gifted Tree is doing its best to aid in the cause. More on that in a bit, but another way to help is to stop deforestation by not cutting down as many trees in the first place.

Every year, an estimated 15 billion trees are chopped down across the planet to make room for agricultural and urban lands and other uses. We’ve cut down so many, in fact, that what’s left is about half of the number of trees that the Earth supported before the rise of human civilization, and scientists warn that it’s not helping our climate.

Causes of Climate Change and Global Warming?

Global deforestation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. When trees are cut down, says Stanford University professor Rob Jackson, who chairs the Earth System Science Department and Global Carbon Project, it can release years of a forests’ stored carbon back into the atmosphere. “Forests provide many benefits beyond storing carbon,” Jackson continues. “They store and recycle our water, they prevent erosion, they harbor biodiversity. There’s a legion of reasons to protect forests, especially in the tropics. When we plant forests, we gain some of those benefits, but it takes a long time to grow a healthy forest.” Rebuilding woodland is a slow and often difficult task which requires patience. It can take several decades or longer for forests to regrow as viable habitats, and to absorb the same amount of carbon lost when trees are cut and burned.

Where to Plant is Vital

Global heat map indicating the best places to plant trees on earth

What we are learning is that not every spec of earth is suitable for planting trees. Some land does need to be used for crops and pastures, but there is much outlaying and marginal land that can best be served by planting trees on it. Thus, it is vitally important to understand where it is best to plant trees. Using high-tech satellite photography, scientist can determine the natural level of tree cover across a range of ecosystems. A recently released study by a Swiss company in the journal Science estimates there are approximately 2.2 billion acres of land worldwide suitable for reforestation, which could ultimately capture two thirds of human-made carbon emissions. The global tree restoration potential report found that there is enough suitable land to increase the world’s forest cover by one-third without affecting existing cities or agriculture. It turns out that more than half the potential to restore trees can be found in just six countries: Russia, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and China. These countries have so much potential because they’ve already removed much of their existing forests, said lead author of the study, Jean-Francois Bastin.

Monitoring Tree Planting is Essential

Successful tree reforestation needs to be done in the right manner. As The Gifted Tree works with tree planting partners around the world, we are learning that programs that work long-term take into account native plant species. There also needs to be a sustained commitment to monitoring forests, not just one-off tree planting events. The upside is this monitoring and educating economically benefits the local population by creating jobs and reduces erosion that damages homes and crops.

When done right, the impact is tremendous. The Swiss study concluded that if all available 2.2 billion acres of new trees were to be planted, around 500 billion saplings, once they reach maturity could absorb 220 gigatons of carbon, the equivalent to about two thirds of man-made carbon emissions since the start of the Industrial revolution. While some of these facts have been challenged as an easy solution to the climate change issue, it is pretty much agreed that the planting of trees matters.

Success Stories From Your Gift Trees

This is why The Gifted Tree is working with dedicated tree partners to not only plant trees, but to monitor their growth to help ensure long-term sustainability. To provide a few examples, take the planting project in Peru where a lot of the forest has been lost to illegal mining. Not only are old growth trees being cut and burned, but miners use diesel pumps to suck up deep layers of the earth, then push the soil through filters to extract gold particles. To turn the particles into nuggets, mercury is stirred in helping bind the particles but also poisoning the land, turning it into desert-like land – dry, sandy, stripped of topsoil and ringed by trunks of dead tree. Our partners are planting saplings of various species native to this part of the Peruvian Amazon, thus when you plant a gift tree in Peru, it is helping bring back the Amazon forest to its original grandeur.

The Gifted Tree’s planting project in the Appalachia Forest

In another project closer to home, focus is on former mining sites in the Appalachian forests of West Virginia and trying to reverse bad planting techniques employed by mining companies in the 1980s. Back then the companies used heavy machinery to push upturned soil back into place. The result was soil so compacted that rainwater would just wash off and not get into the tree roots. The planted species had shallow roots or were non-native trees that could endure but wouldn’t reach their full height or restore the forest to what it had been. Now we understand better what is needed, and your gift trees are native Appalachian trees that can prosper and bring back these forests to what they once were.

Deforestation Solutions: Not an Either-Or Choice

These and other planting projects undertaken by The Gifted Tree planting partners are helping with forest reforestation around the world which we think is one of the best climate change solutions available today. That does not alter the vital importance of protecting existing forests by limiting deforestation since new forests can take decades to mature. Slowing down or putting a halt to deforestation or planting new forests – it’s not an either-or choice. We can do both

October 10, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

Understanding the Amazon Rainforest Fires (and Why we Need to Plant Trees to Help)

The Concern Behind Fires In The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest – the area in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru – is burning at a rate never before seen. The Amazon is regarded as vital in the fight against global warming due to its ability to absorb carbon from the air. It’s often referred to as the “lungs of the Earth,” as more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen is produced there. It is hard to get a handle on the exact number of fires, be it 75,000, 90,000, or over 100,000, but one thing is clear, it is a large number and seems to be growing every day, causing significant Amazon deforestation.

Left to its own devices, the Amazon Rainforest rarely burns, and the ecosystem is not adapted to deal with fire. The area has been “fire-resistant” for much of its history because of its natural environment, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While drought can be a factor in Amazon rainforest fires, usually caused by major El Niño droughts, there is nothing abnormal about the climate or rainfall amounts in the Amazon this year. The fires can kill many of the trees they encounter, because the thin-barked Amazonian species are not adapted to deal with fire—unlike many species of trees in the western U.S. or Mediterranean climates, which evolved to deal with frequent fires.

The Cause of the Amazon Rainforest Fires

“The majority of the fires we’re seeing now are because of deforestation,” according to Ane Alencar, the Director of Science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute. While the fires themselves are destructive and devastating, she continues, their primary cause and the way they are spreading is cause for more concern. This year, there are 45% more fires in Brazil than there were at this time last year. What’s most alarming is the fact that many of these fires are deliberately set, not lightening strikes or careless campers. Instead, they are planned out and propagated by farmers and large corporations for farming, drilling and mining. If you are like me, living in a metropolitan area, I did not understand the reason for the setting of these fires and the deliberate deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. So, I set about trying to learn why and I thought I would relay my findings to help you understand about the Amazon Rainforest fires.

Most of the Amazon fires causing deforestation are due to the growth of industrial agriculture in the area. As the world’s population grows, demand for agricultural products also grows. Harvested crops are not just consumed by people in the area, but as cultivation and transportation systems get more advanced and sophisticated, production in these areas can be exported, much of it to China and its growing middle-class population. Brazil, now the world’s largest soybean producer, has converted 18% of its forest ecosystem since 1970 through clear-cutting and fire to aid livestock, soybean and oil palm cultivation.

Inspecting trees planted in the Amazon Rain Forest after fires

Inspecting trees planted after Amazon Rain Forest fires

The Factors of Deforestation

A number of factors contribute to the Amazon deforestation. Cattle farmers start fires deliberately to clear forests to make way for ranching. Additionally, the agro-economic model of the local populations is based on slash and burn farming, a temporary soil fertilization technique that consists of clear-cutting large numbers of trees and leaving the felled trees to dry out. Once the fallen trees have desiccated, they set them on fire providing the plot of soil with nitrogen, leaving behind an open swath of land ready for agricultural activity. While the soil is nutrient rich, it is planted with soybeans. After exhausting exploited land, local farmers abandon it and replicate the process on other nearby land, a circle of endless deforestation.

There is never enough time for reforestation as any regrowth is burned again the next season to plant more product, provided cattle grazing areas, or just never replanted. It is hard to place blame on the local small farmers as this is what they have been taught; they do not understand agroforestry and the techniques available to restore areas of degraded forests without ruining their livelihood. The Gifted Tree’s projects are attempting to reverse this vicious cycle, but more on that later.

The History of Amazon Rainforest Fires

Believe it or not, a few decades ago there used to be more fires in the Amazon Rainforest. Amazon deforestation peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the worst phases of those peak deforestation periods, over 10,000 square miles of forest could be cut down in a year, much of that cleared area converted directly to cropland for planting soybeans or grazing for cattle. In some years, like in 1998 and 2005, that deforestation activity coincided with major El Niño droughts, and fires were abundant and widespread.

A concerted effort from the Brazilian government after the mid-2000s, as well as coordinated international pressures, led to changes in the management of the forest and agricultural land. The efforts were largely successful: By 2012, the annual deforestation rate bottomed out at about 80 percent lower than the average rate between 1995 and 2006.

The Politics Behind The Amazon Rainforest

Now there is the question of whether the policies of new president, Jair Bolsonaro, are a reason for the increase in the current number of fires. As part of his election campaign, Bolsonaro pledged to increase agricultural activity in the Amazon and smooth the way for more development in the region, ignoring international concern over deforestation and climate change. Under his new administration, many scientists, indigenous leaders, and environmental advocates worry that deforestation rates were likely to shoot up again. That fear seems to be playing out. Under Bolsonaro, forest protections have been weakened and enforcement of illegal logging has diminished. The fires burning across the region and choking downwind communities are an all too visible result of this shift in policy. Furthermore, national policies are causing economic contraction in the cities, chasing workers into the rural areas. This swelling of the rural population is increasing agricultural activity further exacerbating the deforestation problem. As Doug Morton, the chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center exclaims, “These fires are ecologically devastating.”

The Gifted Tree Replanting Project in Brazil’s Amazon Rain Forest

Help Deforestation and Fight Global Warming With The Gifted Tree

While there is no single answer and reversing this destructive behavior will take a concerted global effort, The Gifted Tree is trying to do its part. Planting your gift tree in the Amazon Rainforest will have wide-ranging community benefits; restore burned areas, conservation of tropical biodiversity, improvement of the water cycle, diversify forest fruit production, ensure food and nutritional security, and store carbon to fight climate change. Besides tree planting, our program teaches local farmers to integrate agroforestry into their farming practices allowing them to earn more income per acre than before. Thus, they are becoming aware of the importance of forest cover for their food crops, and of the ability of trees planted in and around their fields to enrich cultivated soils. As a result, slash-and-burn farming loses its interest. Your gift tree thus makes it possible to mobilize local populations towards a sustainable agricultural production method and thus break the vicious circle of Amazon deforestation by the rainforest fires.

September 12, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

How To Choose Where To Plant Your Gift Tree – Part 1

No matter where you plant, realize you are making a difference

You have decided to plant a gift tree – either a memorial tree planted in memory of a loved one (human or pet), or in someone’s name to celebrate one of life’s milestones, perhaps a birthday, anniversary or birth. The Gifted Tree plants gift trees in over 20 countries around the world, the only memorial tree planting company to do so. Now you must decide where you would like to plant the tree. No matter which location you choose, or if you can’t decide and just want to have us plant the gift tree in the area of most need, realize that you are making a monumental difference for the earth and opening a new doorway to the world for future generations.

Beyond forest fires and climate change

Typically, most of us think that our gift tree should be planted to reforest areas that have been devastated by forest fire or negatively affected by climate change. While these are two good and valid reasons for deciding where to plant, there is another important benefit that can be gained by planting your memorial tree in certain locations around the globe; socio-economic gain.

Spending the day collecting firewood

This benefit can be difficult to grasp, mainly because in our first world country, we do not experience the difficulties of everyday life encountered by third world communities. A significant amount of deforestation, particularly in African and Asian nations, occur because the population needs the wood just to cook their meals. The sad part is, as time goes on and the wood sources move farther away from homes, citizens, particularly women and children, need to travel miles everyday just to collect firewood to cook that evening’s dinner. The better part of the day is spent gathering wood with little or no time left to work on jobs that would lead to economic gain.

No problem, forest resources are unlimited, Not

The alarming rate of deforestation in these areas is also due to the economic value of the forest, specifically timber products. Deforestation is so serious that individuals have cut down large trees that have been standing for decades for little or no reason at all. Many believe the forest is meant to be exploited or cut down to meet their needs. Bush burning and unsustainable logging are very widespread, and many believe forest resources are unlimited, and that what they take from the forest is too minimal to make a difference.

Beyond planting trees, educating

The gift tree planting projects The Gifted Tree is involved in Africa and Asia have multiple socio-economic benefits. Not only are we planting trees in these regions, but farmers are also being trained in best tree planting methods, nursery preparation, farm conservation and finance, and irrigation management. Most of these individuals have no prior knowledge of proper land management techniques, but this training will be a significant factor in the fight against deforestation. They also learned methods and techniques to protect trees to withstand local climatic conditions and thus help to ensure the newly planted trees’ long-term survival.

Planting trees and changing lives, forever

Your planting of a gift tree in these developing nations will include a variety of fruit and nut-bearing trees such as fig, quince, pomegranate, apple, lemon, olive, apricot, orange, pear, and walnut. This social forestry education, coupled with an increase in technology literacy, provides sustenance for the villagers, as well as allowing for job growth in the region, and the ability to earn a sustainable income by selling excess fruit and nuts in the local markets.

By choosing to plant your gift tree in an African or Asian nation, you give families the ability to transition from unsustainable farming techniques to a forest garden system. Your memorial tree not only sustains and empowers the citizens of these regions, but also changes their lives forever.

August 8, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

How to show you care: This way really rocks.

Here at The Gifted Tree, we receive comments from many of you who have received gift trees, and one common thread throughout is that the planting of a gift tree shows that the gift giver really cares. Whether it is to honor a lost loved one or to celebrate one of life’s milestone events, the recipient mentions how it is one of the most thoughtful gifts they have ever received.

The other day, I was on my typical weekend hike in the park when I sat down on a bench to get some wood chips out of my shoe. When I bent down to take off my shoe, I happened to notice a beautifully painted rock sitting in the grass next to one of the legs of the bench. Not only did the sun reflecting off the purple color catch my attention, but the beautifully painted design, along with the words “Life is beautiful, enjoy every moment,” could not be ignored.

I picked the rock up for a closer inspection, and on the other side were painted words directing me to the website GoRock.com. Putting the rock in my water bottle holder pouch, I logged onto the website once I was back in my office. I discovered that this wasn’t some random rock that had fallen out of a kid’s backpack, but it had purposely been placed for someone to find, and that someone was me. Online, I could type in the rock identifier number on the label and discover where the rock was painted and the path it had taken before I discovered it.

It brought a smile to my face, and also the realization that the person who painted this rock had some of the same motives as our gift tree customers – wanting to show he or she cares. Just as The Gifted Tree plants gift trees in 20+ locations around the world, GoRock is a global community of rock painters spreading positive vibes all over the world, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

And just as you can virtually visit the areas around the world where your gift tree has been planted, on GoRock.com, you can see how many people have found that rock, and on a virtual world map, the journey that rock has taken around the globe.

And just as planting a gift tree can help you express your feelings, show you care, and connect on a personal level with someone important to you, finding a simple painted rock can help spread love, joy, and inspiration. Both gift trees and painted rocks stand out and have a lasting impact. Now I just must decide where I will re-hide the rock so that I can bring a smile to someone else’s face and have them create their own story of discovery!

Yours treely,

Doug

July 1, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

How Planting Gift Trees Benefits the Air We Breathe

Last week was World Environment Day, the United Nations’ day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. This year’s theme was Air Pollution and asking the world to come together to beat it. Unarguably, air pollution is a complex matter, but also unarguably, the planting of trees is definitely a step in the right direction for improving the quality of the air that we all breathe.

The relationship between trees and air pollution is a complicated one, but with half a football field of forest destroyed every second, we need to understand the impact the loss of trees will have on the quality of our air, and how planting trees will benefit all of us.

Trying to keep this as simple as possible, heat from the earth is trapped in the atmosphere due to high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping gases that prohibit it from releasing the heat into space. This creates a phenomenon known today as the “greenhouse effect.” Trees help by removing CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to form carbohydrates that are used in plant structure/function and return oxygen back into the atmosphere as a byproduct. Roughly half of the greenhouse effect is caused by CO2. Therefore, trees act as carbon sinks, alleviating the greenhouse effect.

In urban areas, trees also reduce the greenhouse effect by shading houses and office buildings. This reduces the need for air conditioning by up to 30 percent which in turn reduces the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity. The combination of CO2 removal from the atmosphere, carbon storage in wood and the cooling effect makes trees extremely efficient tools in fighting the greenhouse effect and thus, air pollution.

Trees also remove gaseous air pollution by uptake via leaf stomata or simply, the leaf pores. Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and intercept airborne particulates (major health hazards in air pollution) out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark. Trees along urban roadways can reduce the presence of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere within a few hundred yards of the roadside verge. All of this scientific jargon basically means that trees reduce the concentration of bad stuff in the air that we breathe

Planting trees remains one of the most cost-effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. If every American family planted one tree, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion pounds annually. This equates to almost 5 percent of the amount that human activity pumps into the atmosphere each year.

Taken together, there is no doubt that trees provide a net positive benefit to the environment, which is why it is almost uniformly true that neighborhoods with lots of trees command greater housing values than those without. You can help by planting memorial gift trees and gift trees celebrating milestone events for people or pets. The Gifted Tree makes it easy to do, and with our innovative and amazing presentation certificates, it will show you care, as well as make a difference. Plant your gift tree to help forests devastated by fire or climate change, and improve the quality of the air we breathe!

June 12, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

How To Improve Water Quality By Planting Trees

One question we receive frequently at The Gifted Tree concerns the role trees play in the keeping our water supply safe and clean. When one thinks of forests and majestic trees, a lot of us understand the vital role trees play in helping clean the air we breathe by acting as filters and removing harmful particles and pollutants. Those same people are less familiar with the role trees play in purifying our water sources, including those that provide drinking water for millions of Americans every day.

Water is probably the most vital resource for our survival. Whether it be for drinking water or washing our clothes, the average American uses an estimated 80-100 gallons of water per day. For many of us, having access to clean drinking water and running water in our homes is a necessity that we often take for granted.

People are not the only ones who count on water for survival. Trees and animals also need water for their existence. Water availability has a direct impact on the health of forests and their inhabitants. Trees are made up of more than 50 percent water and need a steady source of it in order to grow and stay healthy. A single mature oak can consume over 40,000 gallons of water in a year!

Okay, trees need water to survive, but how do they help in improving our water quality? Trees improve water quality by slowing rain as it falls to the Earth, and helping it soak into the soil. Trees then serve as natural sponges, collecting and filtering rainfall and releasing it slowly into streams and rivers. Tress are the most effective land cover for maintenance of water quality. They prevent soil from eroding into our waterways which contribute to poor water quality, reduce storm water runoff, and lessen flood damage. Furthermore, the movement of water from the ground, through trees and leaves and back to the environment, allows for clouds to form and significant precipitation to fall.

Having a buffer of forestland by streams and riverbanks does more than just filtering the water. Planting and maintaining woody vegetation along streams provide a wealth of benefits, including filtering sediment, removing nitrogen and phosphorous leaching from adjacent agricultural land uses, and providing stability to the bank through a wood root system. Forest cover has been directly linked to reducing drinking water treatment costs and helping to recharge the water table by allowing water to enter the ground, so the more forest in a source water watershed, the lower the cost to treat that water.

Now you know another of the multitude of benefits trees provide. Luckily, one easy way to protect and clean our water supply is to plant trees, and The Gifted Tree can help. We plant gift trees to show you care – memorial trees in remembrance of a lost loved one, human or pet, or gift trees to celebrate a milestone event. Not only will you be remembered due to the unique and innovative presentation tree certificate the recipient will receive, but you are giving the world a gift too – clean water.

May 14, 2019/by Doug Bell

How To

Reforestation — How To Reforest After a Forest Fire

One question we get at The Gifted Tree is “Why plant again after a forest fire, aren’t you just setting the scenario for another forest fire?” As with most issues in life, there are two sides to the story. Since here at The Gifted Tree we plant gift trees, I will lean toward the “plant again” side.

Wildfire is a necessary and important part of a natural landscape, but it is undeniable that some wildfires have harsh and negative impacts on communities, water resources, outdoor recreation resources, and fish and wildlife habitat. In these cases, post-fire restoration can be crucial to prevent further damage and to spur recovery. Reforestation is important in creating wildlife habitat, decreasing soil erosion, encouraging snow retention, sequestering carbon, providing clean air and water, and reestablishing native tree species and future seed sources.

Damage from some wildfires doesn’t always stop once the flames are suppressed and the smoke clears, and is sometimes more devastating than the fire itself. Loss of vegetation as a result of an intensely burning large fire can expose soil to erosion. We have all read about the recent fires in California followed by torrential rains creating massive and deadly mud slides.

The sight of blackened earth after a fire is hard to take, but in this plight, patience is a virtue. While every fire situation is different, post-fire restoration is a process that can take years. Sometimes the trees can grow back on their own – the blackened trees lining the ground hide what is going on their underside ─ sometimes there is new growth which can spawn new trees as well as provide a habitat for wildlife such as birds. Also. while the temperatures at surface level can be very high, destroying all vegetation, just below the surface, the temperatures can be quite normal. Thus, in certain situations, root systems remain intact and will regenerate on their own.

In other situations, fires burn with such intensity that no seed source remains, and humans need to be the catalyst. In these situations, the reforestation action starts with a seed, literally. The forest service is in the business of constantly collecting seeds from different elevations and different species of trees from forests all over the country. These seeds are carefully labeled so that when they are needed, they are replanted in the exact area where, or very near to where, they were harvested. In fact, in addition be being geographically replanted in the same area, seeds are planted at the same elevation within 700 feet from where they were collected. That means a Ponderosa Pine seed collected in Colorado would not be planted in Idaho. Or one collected in Northern Colorado would not be replanted in Southern Colorado. If collected and handled properly, these seeds can be viable for 30 to 40 years.

The Gifted Tree works with partners who focus on planting where the greatest reforestation needs exist, in areas impacted by large-scale fires or insects and disease where there is virtually no probability the area will reforest on its own. In those cases, seeds are ordered from the seed bank nursery and the nursery workers find the ones collected from the area when the devastation occurred.

Once the seeds are carefully inspected and the duds discarded, they are planted in holes made in large Styrofoam blocks. Those blocks lay end-to-end in the glass greenhouse, where workers nurse them along until the next viable planting season. That means the seedlings will not be ready to plant until at least one year after a fire. At the same time, Forest Service experts prepare the burned area and make sure it is safe for the workers and the soil is ready for planting.

At precisely the right moment, usually late spring, or early summer, the baby trees are shipped back to the forest for planting. They have a very high survival rate because they are genetically ready for the climate, altitude and soil conditions of the area.

Reforestation is a scientifically honed process, a picture that takes a while to complete. The Gifted Tree works with agencies that not only plant your gift tree where it has the best chance for growth but revisit the planting areas for several years after to ensure long-term viability. So whether the gift tree is planted in memory of a lost loved one, or to celebrate a happy life event, know that a lot of scientific thought went into the planting ensuring that your gift tree will have a lasting impact and be a gift to the earth as well. Discover more on the three steps to planting a gift tree at https://www.thegiftedtree.com/build-your-gift-in-three-easy-steps/.

Yours treely,

Doug

April 8, 2019/by Doug Bell