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LEUCAENA: The Miracle Tree

Each Day, another 100,000 acres of the world's forests are cleared and burned.
The smoke from these burning lands circle our globe, adding another 13% to the
growing pollution of our atmosphere.

This global tragedy has a human face.  It is the millions upon millions of 
families for whom these devastated lands have been a home and way of life.
Now the lands can no longer produce even their basic needs and they are 
forced, as refugees from an environment gone wrong, into teeming city slums.
For these unfortunates, there is no longer a future.

None of this need happen.  The people of these communities realize, far
better than any environmentalist, the fate awaiting them unless they are
able to bring life back to their lands.  They see the tree lines receding up 
the mountainsides.  The monsoon rains stripping the last soil from their farm
plots.  Daily, they walk many miles just to find enough firewood to cook the
family meals.  In growing numbers, they ask for help in their daily struggle
to survive.

Over more than 20 years, TREES FOR THE FUTURE has built a program right in
these remote villages to allow the people there to continue their lives, in 
dignity and abundance, by protecting and restoring the diversity of natural
resources of the past.  Over these years, more than 7,000 villages, in 58
developing nations, have joined this effort to save threatened lands.

It begins by planting trees.  Trees for people!  Trees that bring immediate,
and continuing, benefit to these families.  Trees that are the pioneer species
to protect the land against further ravages, to insure a rapid, natural, 
return of much of the diversity of the past.

The people of these communities are among the poorest on Earth.  Yet they are
freely offering their labors, the use of some of their precious lands, because
they recognize the great benefit these trees will quickly bring them.  They 
can't wait long and so they want trees that grow quickly.

By far, the most beneficial and popular of these fast-growing tree species is 
called the Leucaena (Loo-Say-nah) Tree.  It's a tree of the American tropics,
with a natural fange from Peru in South America into Florida and south Texas.
In Texas, it's known as the "Leadwood Tree".  Worldwide, it carries the
Filipino name: "Ipil-Ipil Tree".

In the tropics, this tree can grow from a seed to a height of twenty feet or
more in the first year.  By the age of five years, it can have a trunk 
diameter of 14" (inches) or more, and a height of more than 60 feet.

The strong taproot can go as deep as 60 feet into the ground, bringing 
important minerals back to worn out soils through leaf fall.  The roots fix
nitrogen in the soil and guide precious rain water back into the earth to
replenish groundwater reserves.

An acre of these trees produces about 7 tons of leaves (dry weight) in a year.
The leaves make excellent protecting forage for livestock.  Or they can be
used as organic fertilizr and humus when applied to crops grown between the
tree rows.

Alos important, these trees can be harvested time after time for wood.  Each
time they are cut, they grow right back - faster each time as the root system
continues to develop.

For these communities, the only possible energy source is wood.  And these
trees offer them an endless source of firewood right at their doorstep: no
need to walk miles every day.  Now they can meet their needs - and have a 
surplus to sell in nearby markets.

Moreover, these are trees that encourage the growth of other trees and plants.
They protect the land agaist fires, while cooling the air and increasing the
humidity.  They add fertility and moisture to the soils.  They shade the land
against the harsh sun but allow enough sunlight through to let other plants 
grow under their canopy.  When the land is protected by these trees, birds
and wildlife quickly return to an attractive habitat and the process of
regeneration takes another step foward.

These trees are being planted in many ways: as community woodlots, as "living
fences", along the contour lines of steep hillsides, as shade trees along
rural roads, as "alley crops" that can triple food production.  Each use
brings important benefit to the participating family - and to the entire
community.

And, as one community succeeds in saving and restoring their lands, nearby 
villages see what is possible and they continue the program.  In only a few
years, entire watershed areas are being restored to life.

Now, with the growing concern about the increasing pollution of our
atmosphere, with possible grave changes in the global climate, these trees
offer another advantage - to all people on Earth: THESE TREES REMOVE
POLLUTION FROM THE ATMOSPHERE!  Just 40 of these fast growing tree annually 
take a ton on carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas" from the air and return it
to the soil as humus.

This truly is a "Miracle Tree".  And we hope that you'll be our partner in
helping people around the world to plant millions of these life-giving trees
each year.  The need to plant trees, to save the world's remaining forests, is
great - and grows daily.  The answer is PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE to bring trees
and forests back to the world's devestated lands.

Success depends on your help.  Only you can keep our trained local leaders 
working around the world.  Only you can keep supplies of seeds and other
materials moving to these projects.  More than ever before, we need you help
now.

For more information about how you can be a part of this vital program, or if
you know of anyone worldwide who needs help to restore the natural environment
and doesn't have the technology or materials to do so, please contact:

(IMPORTANT: Be sure to mention that you found out about them on the Internet).

Dave Deppner
Trees For The Future
11306 Estonia Drive
P.O. Box 1786
Silver Spring, Maryland 20915 
U.S.A.
Tel: (800) 643-0001 (within the U.S.)
Tel: (301) 929-0238 (outside the U.S.)


FREE TREE SEEDS AVAILABLE!  
When you contact Mr. Deppner at Trees for the Future, request sample tree
seeds to grow yourself.  These seeds will burst into beautiful seedlings in 
almost no time, and larger trees in warm, moist environments.  While this 
tropical tree can't withstand cold northern winters, it makes an attractive 
and interesting house plant for your home or office.



THIS POSTING IS COURTESY OF  Mr. Shannon Roxborough, a concerned citizen and
multi-faceted international consultant who assists individuals and companies 
in financial & personal privacy and security matters and gathering elusive 
information.  He lived in Asia for almost two years, and has extensive 
contacts on six continents.  He also frequently writes for various national 
publications.  He welcomes all questions and comments, and may be reached at: 
worldadvisor@delphi.com

Please feel free to distribute, post, or archive this information (in its
entirety) on any computer system worldwide.