New Update from PWP's Technical Director

Reposted from Bob Morikawa's blog, "Where is Bob?" (www.whereisbob.blogspot.com): One of the challenges of the field we work in is the weather. Rain-fed agriculture is totally dependent on, well, rain. And the rain waits for no one. And in the particular part of Haiti where we are planning our emergency reponse project, the rain could start any day now. In fact the other night there was a brief shower which hardly wet the ground, but is a sign of things to come. Fortunately, through our community partners, we already have a pretty decent seedling bank which was being prepared for the upcoming season before the earthquake. The inventory of these seedlings is being conducted this week, but our internal tree seedling capacity will be well over 100,000. We will augment this with a seedling purchase from a large commercial nursery in Port au Prince. The staff has divided up into teams to handle each of the main aspects of our emergency response, so we have as Seeds and Tools committee, a Soil Conservation committee, a Reforestation committee, a Road Repair committee, and a Food Distribution committee. Each committee is deploying to get us ready for what promises to be our most hectic season ever. Now, if only the funding would coincide with the weather...