Adopt a Flame Tree

Two years ago Beautify CNMI had an adopt-a-flame tree program. Donate $25 and Beautify CNMI would plant a flame tree in your name.

That year we planted flame trees along the road fronting the substation in Koblerville, in front of Koblerville Elementary School, in Dandan near the airport, along beach road, and in Marpi. I'd have to dig through my files to figure out how many we planted, but it was several hundred. I remember a local lawyer donated something like $1000 to support our project.

Many of those trees are blooming this year, but unfortunately, a lot of the trees died from a combination of bushcutter damage, drought, and just bad luck. Many of the trees are doing very well, though, like I said.

Hafa Adai Magazine included a story about our adopt-a-flame tree program (see above) in this month's issue. This evening I got a phone call to let me know that two people had adopted trees. They are Mr. Nobuo Mizuno and Ms. Michiko Abe, both from Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

We are going to plant two flame trees for them.

I talked to a farmer this evening about growing trees and there is a large company on island that has expressed interest in planting several hundred flame trees on Saipan (I've got a cool idea to combine planting pretty flame trees with erosion controls using native trees, but I'll write about that later), so you may see a resurgence in Beautify CNMI tree planting in the upcoming rainy season.

Stay tuned.

Jake Shimabukuro plants a Flame Tree

Yesterday's Beautify CNMI anniversary concert with Jake Shimabukuro was an all day affair. The concert took up the entire evening, but even before that we were setting up and going on the radio to promote the show.

We even took some time to plant a tree with Jake.

Adopt a Flame Tree Update

In 2007 Beautify CNMI planted about 200 Flame Trees (I think) as part of our Adopt-a-Flame Tree Program. 6 of those trees were planted in American Memorial Park last June during our Micronesia Challenge Summer Camp and they were adopted by Barney Ono, a Japanese citizen living in Japan who has kept track of Beautify CNMI via the Internet.

I had the chance to visit those six Flame Trees earlier this morning and I am happy to report that they are all doing very well. This picture was taken next to the largest of the six.

Barney, the next time you visit Saipan, make sure you look for your six healthy Flame Trees growing in our local National Park.

Goings on

Hafa Adai,

PTI has generously donated a cellphone to MINA to help us with the coordination of Beautify CNMI. They are also donating DSL to help us with our day to day operations.

The new Beautify CNMI volunteer line is 285-MINA (6462). Please save that number!

Thank you PTI!

We've got a few non-volunteer events going on this weekend. I hope you can make it!

Friday (today)

The USS Germantown is in town with 700 sailors and marines. On Friday morning, 100 marines are going to be paired up with 100 elementary students from Garapan Elementary for a cleanup of the Garapan Tourist District set to begin at 9:30 AM. We are going to meet at the AMP Parking lot. Everyone is invited to participate, but it would be great if we could get people from MVA, Fiesta, Hyatt, and PDM Promoters to attend. This is already going to be a huge event. Let's make it even bigger.

I'll have garbage bags and gloves for everyone. I'm going to provide water, unless someone wants to donate some (hint, hint). The soldiers are going to bring lunch.

People who attend the Friday cleanup will be invited for a special tour of the USS Germantown on Saturday morning. After the tour we'll have lunch in the ship's messhall. They're not giving open tours to the public, so this may be your only chance to see the ship!

Saturday

Everyone who attended the cleanup of Garapan on Friday will be invited to a tour of the USS Germantown. I'll give out the details at the cleanup on Friday, but the tour will be on Saturday morning.

DEQ also has their monthly cleanup brigade event. This month they will be cleaning Tank Beach. Meet them at Tank Beach in Kagman at 8 AM. Contact Reina Camacho at DEQ for more info, 664-8500.

Sunday

We've got a handful of Flame Trees left to plant. Thank you to everyone who has adopted one so far. I haven't compiled the numbers (because some were planted while I was gone) and I haven't printed up the certificates, but I know we've planted over 150 Flame Trees this year.

We are going to replace some of the Flame Trees on Beach Road. We're meeting across the street from Naked Fish at 8 AM. If you don't see us, just look for the people with trees and shovels.

Also, kudos to Parks & Recration for putting bush cutter guards around the young trees planted over the last year and a half! Thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact me at 285-MINA (6462)

Have a great weekend,

Angelo

LIFE CYCLE

I was saddened to read in the Tribune last Saturday about one of the old flame trees dying. I posted this message below, but tried to put a positive face on it that our friends in Guam are appreciating the work that Beautify CNMI is doing replacing flame trees on Saipan

*****************


Department of Public Works staff clean up the debris of a large flame tree that fell on the road due to a fungal disease Thursday afternoon in front of Paseo De Marianas Beach Road in Garapan. (Jacqueline Hernandez)

It always saddens me to see one of our beautiful flame trees (or any tree for that matter) fall prey to either man or disease. A friend of mine, Ed Pocaigue, a staff of Speaker Mark Forbes' office in Guam, sent me an e-mail this morning and expressed his appreciation for the work that Beautify CNMI! is doing to replace our flame trees. Thank you for noticing, Ed! I shall pass along your kind words to the Beautify CNMI! family!

Rep. Cinta M. Kaipat
www.cnmiblog.com

**************

The very next day, after the FMI crew and Kaipat gang left the ligthouse, we stopped to on our way home to admire the first blooms ever on one of the first flame trees we planted over a year ago last June. We all felt proud as a peacock! Here is my post on this.

Did you see it?! Did you see it?! One of the very first flame trees that Beautify CNMI! planted along Beach Road over a year ago has bloomed.
I'd remembered to stop and take a picture on our way home from the lighthouse cleanup yesterday and, Boy!, were we thrilled!!!We were so happy, we almost danced around the tree! This is great considering the sad post earlier regarding the old flame trees being infected with a disease and dying.

Rep. Cinta Kaipat
www.cnmiblog.com

We Welcomed Our Visitors From Israel and Switzerland

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In July, Beautify CNMI! welcomed some new international friends who joined us in some of our activities. Neta, from Israel; Rep. Cinta Kaipat; and Flurina, from Switzerland. These two ladies participated in the Koblerville flame tree plantings that Beautify CNMI held last month (July). Thank you, friends.Neta and Flurina posed with two of Beautify CNMI!'s leaders -- Ken Kramer (RC&D) and Captain Carl Brachear.Flurina planting lasting memories in Koblerville on Saipan..

Beautify CNMI! volunteers working side by side to help transform the Kobler Substation into a truly beautiful site to behold. We should start to see some blooms in about three or four years. Hopefully, in three or four years, we would see blooming flame trees such as these when we travel down Koblerville's main street. (Blooming flame trees photos courtesy of Mike Tripp.)
The Group Shot. 1-2-3: Beautify CNMI!
One more time with Angelo! 1-2-3: Beautify CNMI!

The 100th Flame Tree Planted On Saipan In 2007

Tree planters: Rep. Cinta Kaipat & family; Angelo Villagomez (BC, MINA & RC&D); Aya-san Matsumoto & Hideo-san Honda (Isa-CNMI); Friends of the Mariana Islands (FMI); Team Chura Talo; Juanita Fajardo; Little Miss Marianas 1st Runner Up Kassandra Tate Tudela Royal (not pictured but joined by Mom Bonnie & little sister Briana in making their 1st Beautify CNMI! cleanup/planting); and Dr. Daniel Lamar (who also made his cleanup/planting debut with Beautify CNMI!).

Welcome new volunteers/partners and thank you, salamat po, domo arigato, si yu'us ma'ase, and olomwaay to everyone!!!

Another Milestone

Today we planted our 100th Flame Tree of the 2007 rainy season!

Considering that we only planted 22 Flame Trees last year, this is a very significant number.

It took several groups and individuals collaborating to get these trees in the ground. We started way back in February. I asked Brad Doerr, a Mariana Island Nature Alliance member, to start growing Flame Trees for me. I told him that I didn't have money to pay him then, but by the time the trees were ready to plant, I would have figured something out.

We came up with an Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. For $20, anyone in the world could have a Flame Tree planted in their name. We sold trees at the Flame Tree Arts Festival, the MINA Annual Meeting, and online.

Over 100 trees were adopted.

We started planting on June 19, the one year anniversary of Beautify CNMI's first tree planting. Then each weekend we would plant a few trees. We've had help from MINA, Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council, Rep. Cinta Kaipat's Office & Family, Isa CNMI, Friends of the Mariana Islands, and a few dozen community volunteers.

We're not finished, but a big thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone!

Making Koblerville Beautiful

Today we planted 28 more Flame Trees and 10 Plumeria in and around the Koblerville Youth Center. These 38 trees are in addition to the 36 trees we planted last week. Wee also continued removing little, picking up trash thrown out of people's car windows.

Seriously, can we stop throwing things out of the window as we drive? How hard would it to be to hold on to that beer can?

The Flame Trees planted today are part of our Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. We finished planting in front of the Youth Center, then planted a row in front of Koblerville Elementary, and then planted a row along Monsignor Martinez where it intersects Koblerville Road.

Cinta took a lot of pictures; look for her post!

36 Flame Trees Planted in Koblerville

Beautify CNMI has several long term goals. We want to promote Ecotourism in the CNMI (there is currently no Ecotourism here), we want to restore and promote many of our historical landmarks (i.e. the Japanese Jail and the Lighthouse) as tourist/historical sites, we want to reduce illegal dumping and littering, and we want to create an interconnected system of parks and trails.

One of those parks is going to be located on top of the old airstrip in Koblerville, currently the site of the Koberville Youth Center and Substation.

We started work on this project last year. We took an overgrown old abandoned airstrip littered with trash and grafitti and simply started cleaning.

We mowed the grass. We got rid of the weeds. We painted over the grafitti.

We've kept this up for almost a year.

Last month, with the involvement of several government entities, we helped open up the Koblerville Youth Center. For almost a month now, we've participated in Family Fun Night, held at the Youth Center every Friday night for the residents of Koblerville.

Little by little, we are getting people to use the park and we are continuously improving it.

Yesterday morning we planted 36 Flame Trees along the street. They are small now, but in a year they will be over 10 feet tall. In three years they will be tall enough to provide shade.

About six months ago I asked one of the Mariana Island Nature Alliance members, Brad Doerr, to start growing Flame Trees. I told him that I didn't have money to pay him then, but by the time they were tall enough to plant, I would.

I came up with an Adopt-a-Flame tree program. For $20 via cash, check or paypal, anyone in the world could purchase a Flame Tree. I promised the adoptee a certificate and a picture of their tree posted on the Internet along with the GPS coordinates of their tree.

I use the money to purchase the trees, soil, flagging tape, shovels, and whatever else we need to get the trees planted. Then I recruit volunteers to help me plant the trees and invite the people who adopted the trees to tag along.

Yesterday I had help from Ken Kramer, his mom, his wife and two kids, Missy and Jim Highfill and their kid, Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Gus Kaipat and his 30-40 nephews, Marites Castillo and the Friends of the Mariana Islands, Captain Carl and his two shipmates, Neta and Flurina, Brad Doerr, and Laura Williams and her son Caleb.

All it took for us to get these 36 trees planted were 26 tree planting volunteers (including myself), a little pre-planning on my part to ensure that we would have Flame Trees to plant during the rainy season (coordinating with Brad), and 36 generous donors to spend $20 to adopt a Flame Tree. In getting the trees adopted, we also had help from everyone who helped us man our booth at the Flame Tree Arts Festival back in April and MINA, which takes care of Beautify CNMI's finances.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that planting these 36 trees was a community effort. Probably well over 100 people had a hand in coordinating the planting, from making sure that we had trees, shovels, soil, finances, water, snacks for volunteers, to getting people to adopt the trees, to actually planting the trees, and so on and so on.

Thanks to every single one of you who helped out. These 36 trees are a significant contribution to the community of Koblerville. In 5 years, we'll all be able to say that we had a hand in providing shade, beauty, and cooler temperatures to the residents of Koblerville.

One last thing, Cinta told me to get in the group picture, so I did this:

Flame Trees!

We are planting Flame Trees in Koblerville today!

If you want to help out, come to the Koblerville Youth Center TODAY at 9 AM. We'll be there until about noon.

Steve and Miwa Nguyen adopt a Flame Tree!

Steve and Miwa are moving to Texas next month. They adopted a Flame Tree and planted it on Beach Road. Their tree is the seventh Flame Tree planted in 2007. Their tree can be found at:

N 15' 11.557
E 145' 43.073

Thanks for adopting a tree, Steve and Miwa! We are sure going to miss you guys!

Holmes Busenkell adopts a tree!

Holmes Busenkell is the first non-human to adopt a Flame Tree. His is the sixth tree planted this year. It can be found at:

N 15' 11.520
E 145' 43.059

Thanks, Holmes!

(and thanks Katie and Joe for buying Holmes' tree)

Beautify CNMI in the News

The Variety wrote a very good article today about yesterday's planting of Flame Trees. They picked up on the damage being done to our trees by unskilled bushcutters:

Bush-cutters are flame trees’ worst enemies
By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

MARIANA Islands Nature Alliance executive director, Angelo Villagomez says unskilled bush-cutters are the flame trees’ worst new enemies, compared to typhoons and the fungus Phellinus noxious.

Recent typhoons have toppled flame trees along Beach Road and other areas on Saipan while Phellinus noxious is responsible for killing several flame trees along Airport Road and four other places on island.

But Villagomez yesterday said flame trees are also getting killed “not by nature but mismanagement or bad care.”

Villagomez, together with Rep.Cinta Kaipat, Covenant-Saipan, were among the Beautify CNMI! volunteers who planted flame trees along Beach Road yesterday morning in celebration of the first anniversary of the coalition’s tree planting activities.

Among the 2,000 native trees that Beautify CNMI! has planted since last year are 27 flame trees.

At least 83 people who have adopted flame tree seedlings will join the coalition in planting 150 more flame trees, Villagomez said.

Flame trees killed by improper trimming have recently become a concern of the Marianas Resource Conservation and Development Council, MINA and Beautify CNMI!
A tree trimmer training workshop was conducted recently.

During the tree planting yesterday morning, Villagomez showed how bush-cutters harm newly planted flame trees.

He pointed to an affected portion of a young flame tree that was hit by a bush-cutting equipment due to carelessness.

He said there is a need to educate the people performing bush-cutting jobs.
Newly planted flame tress must be protected from careless bush-cutters, he added.
Ken Kramer of the Marianas Resource Conservation and Development Council said they want to replace the flame trees that were killed by the fungus, but not in the areas where the soil is still infected with the fungus.

Eleven infected flame trees along Airport Road will be cut down.

At least 10 percent of the 600 flame trees planted on Saipan in 1978 have already been killed by this fungus which can be dormant for many years.

Brad Doerr, MINA’s organic gardener who grows flame trees, said the affected soil has to be sterilized before planting new flame trees which take 10 years before they can bear flowers.

Those who also participated in yesterday’s flame tree planting were Capt. Carl Brachear, Isa-CNMI’s Aya Matsumoto, Walt Goodridge, Julian Aguon, Joyie Lam and John Griffin, a visitor from Pennsylvania.

We also made the front page of the Saipan Tribune:

The caption reads:

MARKING A MILESTONE: Ken Kramer of the Marianas Resources Conservation & Development Council plants the first Adopt-a-Flame Tree sapling during the kickoff the Beautify CNMI tree planting for 2007 on Beach Road Tuesday morning. The planting was done in celebration of the first year anniversary of Beautify CNMI's tree planting drive. The hardworking volunteers and members of Beautify CNMI, MRC&D, Rep. Cinta Kaipat's Office, Isa CNMI, and Mariana Islands Nature Alliance planted five trees yesterday, replacing trees damaged by typhoons, bushcutter, or disease over the years.

Walt Goodridge also mentioned us in his weekly column today:

I suggest, therefore, that the necessary response in the face of change, and what the New Saipan ActionTank is committed to doing is to

1. Envision the change

2. Spark the change

3. Lead the change

4. Document the change

The strategy above, and the questions which follow can be used by anyone who wishes to participate in the New Saipan.

Envision the Change

What is your vision of what a new Saipan can look like? What’s your ideal scene? What can be improved?

Spark the Change

What can you do to be a catalyst for change? How can you get the ball rolling? How can you encourage or inspire others to bring about the change you envision?

Lead the Change

The best way to change the world is to be the change you’d like to see, and lead by example. What can you do to show others how it should be done?

Document the Change

In this time of distraction, it’s not enough to simply respond to change, it is important that your response be documented and exposed. This is vitally important, because without adequate documentation and coverage, people are left at the mercy of fear-based, passivity-inducing, daily "news" that neither empowers nor appropriately informs. How can we expose our efforts and accomplishments to the greatest number of people?

Evidence of Change

The strategy above is not unique to the ActionTank. There are examples and evidence of people already using it:

BeautifyCNMI!, concerned about the appearance of this island, took matters in their own hands and envisioned, sparked, led and continue to document the change on their website (www.beautifycnmi.com).

The 2007 Tree Planting Season is on!

Community volunteers and adopt-a-tree patrons (from left to right): Brad Doerr of MINA, Angelo Villagomez, Sami Birmingham-Babauta, Beautify CNMI summer intern, Walt Goodridge, Rep. Cinta Kaipat, Aya Matsumoto of ISA CNMI, Joyie Lam, Captain Carl Brachear, John Griffin, Ken Kramer of Marianas RC&D, and Julian Aguon.

This morning Beautify CNMI partners from Marianas Resources Conservation & Development Council, Rep. Cinta Kaipat's Office, Isa CNMI, and Mariana Islands Nature Alliance helped kick off the Beautify CNMI tree plantings for 2007!

We planted 5 trees, replacing trees that have been removed because of typhoon damage, bushcutter damage, or disease over the years.

The planting occured on the one year anniversary of Beautify CNMI's first tree planting. Exactly one year ago we planted four Flame Trees on Beach Road. Some of those Flame Trees are over 10 feet tall today.

Is the tree tall or are the people short?: Angelo Villagomez, Sami Birmingham-Babauta, and Steve Nguyen. This tree was planted on June 19, 2006. It is only one year old.

That planting kicked off a series of tree plantings that resulted in the planting of over 2000 native trees.

The Flame Trees planted this morning are a part of the Beautify CNMI Adopt-a-Flame Tree program. Anyone can adopt a Flame Tree. The cost is $20 and the adoptee can plant the tree with Beautify CNMI or at their home. Adoptees will recieve a certifcate of adoption that has the GPS coordinates of their tree. Their tree will also be featured on the Beautify CNMI website.

GPS All-stars: John Griffin and Brad Doerr take the GPS coordinates of a Flame Tree.
If you would like to adopt a tree, please contact Angelo Villagomez or use the DONATE NOW button to make a donation. The cost is $20 per tree.

Julian Aguon and John Griffin adopt a tree!

Julian Aguon and John Griffin are both visiting Saipan this week. Julian is from Guam and John is from Pennsylvania. When they heard about our tree planting this week, they both decided to adopt a tree. We only had five trees at our kickoff event, so they decided to plant it together.

Later in the rainy season we will plant another tree for them.

They also decided to call their tree JJ. JJ can be found at:

N 15' 11.851
E 145' 43.109

Thanks, Julian!

Thanks, John!

Joyie Lam and Rika Matsumoto adopt a tree!

Joyie Lam came to this morning's tree planting after reading about it on one of the many Saipan blogs. She decided to adopt a tree.

Her tree can be found at:

N 15' 11.856
E 145' 48.107

Joyie, who is entering her third year at Pepperdine University, planted this tree for her and her best friend, Rika, who is currently attending college in Japan. Rika is the daughter of Aya, who has also adopted a Flame Tree.

Aya Matsumoto adopts a tree!

Aya Matsumoto of ISA CNMI adopted a flame tree and planted it on Beach Road. It can be found at:

N 15' 11.780
E 145' 43.109

Thanks, Aya!

By the way, we made Aya dig her own hole:

Captain Carl Brachear adopts a tree!

Captain Carl planted his tree on Beach Road. It is located at:

N 15' 11.776
E 145' 43.100

Thanks, Carl!

Tree Planting: One Year Later

On June 19, 2006, Beautify CNMI and our partners planted four Flame Trees on Beach Road. Over the course of the next several months, we planted over 2000 trees.

Tomorrow is the on year anniversary of that day, so we are going to plant four more Flame Trees on Beach Road. The ceremony will take place at 10 AM near the 13 Fishermen Memorial.

Hope to see you there!