Dell's Plant a Tree for a Friend Campaign Restores Forestland in Louisiana

Since 2007, Dell and The Conservation Fund have been working together to rebuild forests across the United States through the Plant a Tree program. Thanks to this continuing partnership, Dell customers have made donations that helped plant more than 130,000 trees between 2007 and 2010.

That's a lot of trees.

To celebrate Earth Day 2010, Dell created the Plant a Tree for a Friend Facebook application. For every tree Facebook users dedicated to a friend during the month of April, Dell made a donation to the Fund. More than 43,000 people participated and the campaign resulted in the restoration of 358 acres at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge near Monroe, Louisiana (Read about our efforts to restore forestland in the Upper Ouachita NWR). Restoration of native forestland has many benefits, including creating much need.ed habitat for wildlife and providing flood protection and cleaner waters for the communities downstream from the Ouachita River.

But it gets better: Dell's campaign inspired several generous individuals to donate to the Fund's efforts to restore Upper Ouachita's native forestland. And the tree supplier, Delta Wildlife Consulting, was able to provide 30 percent more trees than initially anticipated. As a result, 108,000 native seedlings—hickory, oak and cypress—were planted on 358 acres in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

"Dell's Plant a Tree for a Friend Facebook campaign has tremendous benefits for Louisiana’s wildlife and its people," said the Fund's Jena Thompson Meredith of the Fund. "Given the recent events in the Gulf Coast region, restoring these lands is now more important than ever." 

See images from the tree planting:

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  Upper Ouachita NWR
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  Upper Ouachita Planting Area
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  Preparing to plant the trees
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  Planting the trees