Hikmet Kaya had a very big idea about trees.
While forest management chief in Sinop, Turkey, Kaya knew deforestation was leaving much of his country without its native forests. An afforestation project was his response.*
In 1978, Kaya launched a long-term mission to plant trees—many trees. During the next 20 years, Kaya, his forestry team and fellow villagers planted 30 million saplings. Today, the land he chose to nurture is now a thriving forest transformed by his commitment to the present and future.
For much of my early life, I worked in my family’s landscaping and nursery business. Summers, I worked on landscape crews where we planted thousands of seedlings, flowers and trees across Kansas City and beyond. Some days, my sister and I watered and tended our nurseries of evergreens and hardwoods. The days were long, hot, exhausting—and fulfilling. Through these experiences, I grew to love and respect botanical life and learned ways we can protect and sustain that life.
Hikmet Kaya’s visionary gift to his country and community will last hundreds, if not, thousands of years.
And, the gift those trees give back is invaluable.
[*Afforestation is the planting of trees where forests never existed before—or have not existed for centuries.]
