WE PLANTED
12 712 TREES
IN 2021 & 2022
Lurë-Dejës Mt. National Park is one of the most beautiful and wild national parks in Albania. Unfortunately, it suffered massive deforestation due to illegal logging and series of forest fires which decimated its forests.
Our mission is planting trees to help the Lurë National Park to recover from these unfortunate events. We aim to plant 50 000 trees by the end of 2025. We are working together with local community, Lurë National Park authorities (AdZM Dibër) and our partners to achieve our goal.
During our events and development projects (tree nursery, information centre, forest management), we connect and support local communities.
OUR PARTNERS
We hope the Trees for Lurë project will last for many years and brings not only trees back to Lurë but also job opportunities for the locals and of course new visitors who will enjoy the Lurë National Park.
Our activites not only help to recover the decimated population of endangered Balkan pine but also boost rural and economic development in the area, especially for people living in the villages within the Lurë National Park.
Recovery of forests in the Lurë Nation Park is not a trivial task to execute, the damaged area has almost 500ha and is situated in difficult terrain. We are working together with local community and especially with the Lurë National Park authorities (AdZM Dibër) to coordinate our efforts.
You see current state of reforestaion in our Project Map which includes our activities as well as activities of other organisations working in Lurë National Park.
Activities
Re-planting mixed coniferous forest in Lurë is crucial to the recovery of its ecosystem. Suitable native spieces include Pinus peuce, Abies alba, Pinus nigra and Fagus sylvatica. Trees also provide protection of the land from erosion and forest fires which are a serious problem at the moment.
Cleaning up old trees that have been left behind since the time of logging needs to be done before young trees can be planted. Old wood also poses a fire hazard as it is dry. At the moment no wood can leave national park boundaries to ensure the protection against logging.
Setting up a tree nursery would be hugely beneficial. At the moment sourcing young trees is both logistical and economical problem. It would also provide a connection with the local community as well as generate income for caretakers.
Rural and economic development in the Lurë National Park has enormous potential due to its tourist appeal. We work with the local community to execute our projects and aim to generate additional income streams from our activities such as cleanup and tree nursery.
Schedule
2023: Planing Autumn
10 000
We learned a lot during our operations in 2021 and 2022. We have have manged to plant almost 13 000 trees and are aiming to contribute with additional 10 000 trees every year.
Our goals
- Plant additional 10 000 trees or more in the A13 (Borie-Lurë)
- Plant with seeds if evaluation of the A1,A2 areas is positive
- Inspection, maintenance and care for trees planted in 2021 & 2022
2023: Tree nursery
15 000
(seedlings)
We have successufly planted 12 712 trees but in order to take the reforestaion in Lurë to the next level we need to grow our own trees in Lurë. This will allow us to cut costs but most imporatntly plant at the highest protected area of the National Park - the lakes.
Our goals
- Expand the Trees for Lurë tree nursery in the Lurë area to 15 000 capacity
- Collect seeds in the Lurë National Park for Pinus Peuce, Abies Alba and Pinus Nigra
- Grow the seeds into seedlings with capacity of 5 000 pieces per spieces
DONATE
Planting trees costs money (and surprisingly a lot) despite the trees grow for free, you just have to plant them first!
We can plant one tree for as little €2.5. That's like one beer!?
Your donations are only used to buy trees, transport them to Lurë National Park, pay for tools, food and logistics to organise planting events.
VOLUNTEER
If you want to get your hands dirty, don't mind cold, snow or mud we welcome you with open arms, a tree and a shovel.
Trees won't plant themselves, especially not thousands of them.
We are looking for volunteers who could spare a few days. So if you want to plant trees, help with promotion, social media or anything else give us a shout.
OUR PARTNERS
Shirt King & Button King, Germany
Donate 1 tree per order on their websites during March, April, May 2022.
Shirt King & Button King websites
PhD Arch. Elvan Dajko, Albania
Is financially supporting the project.
THE TEAM
Pavel Kunc / FAR&FURTHER
IT, Management & Finance
pavel@treesforlure.org | Instagram
Pavel manages the project, works on the IT support and handles finances, making sure we can execute our plans.
Dorjan Bulku / FAR&FURTHER
Coordinator for Albania, Fundraising
dorjan@treesforlure.org | Instagram
Dorjan is the primary contact in Albania, he is fundraising and looking for partners making sure we have money for trees.
Mirjana Pali
Events coordinator, Translations
Mirjana is handling the logistics and is translating the website into Albanian.
Florian Rizvanolli
Events coordinator
florian.rizvanolli@treesforlure.org
Florian is handling the general program of our events in Lurë, as well as curating the event's social networks.
Olgerta Puta
Finance, Accounting, Law
Olgerta manages our finances and consults us on the Albanian law.
Anisa Coniku
Fundraising
Anisa focuses on corporate and institutional fundraising in Albania.
Joreld Dhamo
Graphic design, print
Joreld helps us with desing for our printed and online materials.
Ersan Karameto
Planting events support
Ersan helps us with logistics and organisation of the planting events.
Gojart Reci
Coordinator for the UK, Fundraising
Gojart connects us with the Albanian diaspora in the UK organising events and fundrasing.
External consultants
Nazmi Ajazi / Independent
Forestry expert
Nazmi provides guidance and oversight of the tree planting, making sure trees are planted correctly.