What skills does an urban forester use when planting
trees on disturbed land along an Amazon River tribu-
tary? "All of them," says New York Tree Trust Director
and SMA Arborist Exchange Committee Member
James Kaechele. In early December, 2019, Kaechele,
also a consulting arborist for the Pittsburgh-
based international charity The Fruit Tree Planting
Foundation (FTPF), went with a team of staff and
volunteers to the Loreta Region of Peru to plant
6,000 fruit trees in five Amazon River communities.
"As urban foresters, our job is equal parts plants and
people," Kaechele says. "We're uniquely positioned
to coordinate both the arboricultural and human
aspects of a project like this. The land-use ques-
tions are the same; the site assessment process is
the same; tree planting techniques are the same;
you have to address any concerns people have—for
example, the worry that some have about whether a
tree will fall on their house—it's the same skills that
I use in the work I do with street trees and residents
in NYC." Furthermore, the land along the Amazon
River is often severely degraded and in need of res-
toration, just like in the tree beds, parks, and natural
areas of NYC—just degraded for different reasons.
For this planting trip, FTPF partnered with the local
nonprofit Civil Association for Conservation of the
Peruvian Amazon Environment (CONAPAC) to bring
twenty different species of fruit trees, with the goal
of promoting conservation efforts by planting more
trees in areas that are vulnerable to deforestation
from cattle farming. Assistance with marketing
efforts are also underway so that harvest will provide
both nutrition and revenue for families whose
income is often less than fifty U.S. dollars a month.
Tree species were selected by community members
based on those they knew would have the
greatest value to them while being most suitable
to the environment. These trees included açaí,
aguaje, cacao, camu camu, coconut, lime, man-
darin, and copoazu. The trees were only planted
on existing agricultural lands, and no other trees
were removed at any point in the process.
Financial support for the project
came from the NYC-based
Juice Generation and the non-
profit A Well-Fed World.
28 CityTREES
Mountain apple (Syzygium malaccense) is
arranged for sale in the community of Indiana
along the Amazon River. This is just one of many
fruit trees that folks rely on for food and income.
