by Jane Goodall
I had a wonderful time when I visited the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place, Kew’s sister organization. Dr. Tim Pearce spared no pains and gave up the best part of his day to show me around that amazing place, explaining all the processes that the seeds go through after arriving from the field. I feel so grateful to you, Tim, for teaching me so much. And that day I also met Wolfgang Stuppy. You have been more than generous, sharing information and contributing the stunning photographs of seeds in this book. Some of them are like images from a fantasy world. They seem unreal, and you have captured all this with your camera. I treasure the short time we spent together and look forward to seeing you again when we celebrate the publication of Seeds of Hope.
Dr. Dawn Kemp, you were so gracious when I visited the Chelsea Physic Garden on a cold January day with my sister, Judy, and Mary Lewis. I could sense your love for the place when you showed us the old rare books and talked of the history of the wonderful old institution. You showed us around the garden and the greenhouses, giving up a lot of precious time. Thank you, Mary, for suggesting that this visit would provide rich material for my book—how right you were. And I want to thank David Lorraine also. You not only drove us to the Chelsea Physic Garden but, together with Mary, organized my trip to Cambodia, during which we went to see the incredible temples of Angkor Wat. Indeed, you took the photograph that appears in this book.
A very special thank-you to two of my best friends, Rick Asselta and his wife, Nelly. You welcomed me to your home in Puerto Rico, you took me to the wonderful botanical gardens and introduced me to the director, and organized a meeting at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, where I met Frank Wadsworth and heard about his dream to save Puerto Rico’s endangered trees—with which some of our R&S students are now involved. At ninety years of age, Frank has not given up the fight—people like this inspire me and help me to keep going.
Rick also took me to visit an organic, shade-grown coffee farm up in the hills, where we met the farmer, resplendent in his elegantly cut jacket made from a coffee sack! I could write a whole book about our relationship, for it goes back to the very start of Roots & Shoots in America. You tailored a wonderful relationship with Western Connecticut State University, and now you are coordinating the R&S program throughout Latin America.
Now I come to Dr. Rogier van Vugt, of Leiden Botanical Garden. You have been unbelievably helpful—sending me the story of the water lobelia and other stories about endangered plants, and reading several chapters and helping to check facts. And not only did you provide photographs to go with the stories but you actually took some especially for this book. It seems I have known you forever—yet we only met that one time when you gave me the little bunch of special flowers. And I wished there had been time to sit down and talk about the things we both love. Instead we have had to make do with e-mails and the occasional telephone call.
Dr. Sarah Sallon, of Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem: you and Dr. Elaine Solowey, from Kibbutz Ketura, nurtured and loved that two-thousand-year-old date palm seed. You recorded the magical appearance of the little shoot, then watched Methuselah slowly grow to maturity. And you brought all this to life when you visited me in Bournemouth and left me with such rich memories. Thank you so very much.
Nellie Sugii, tissue-culture expert, your work is almost magical, coaxing new life and energy into lethargic, reluctant seeds and seedlings. You helped with my last book—and lo and behold, you turn up again, playing a crucial role in the almost-unbelievable story of Cooke’s koki‘o. This time you have not only shared scientific facts but also given away one of the secrets of your success—your love of the plants you work with.
I met Paul Scannell for the first time in the Governor’s House in Melbourne, Australia. Paul, your love of orchids is matched by the love you have for the environment where they grow, the boxwoods. And your love for the Aboriginal people, and for your family. You have been unfailingly helpful to me right from the start—thank you.
And another very special thank-you to journalist, photographer, and friend Alan Bartels. You introduced me to the very beautiful blowout penstemon and your enthusiasm is contagious. You also introduced me to Bruce and Sue Ann Switzer and arranged for me to stay overnight at their ranch, to see the prairie chickens. And over breakfast the next morning their daughter, Sarah, explained how they are gradually, together with neighboring ranchers, restoring the original prairie in the area. It is a very successful project, about which I hope to write more later. Before we left, you also introduced me to a blowout-penstemon seedling, part of a project involving the Roots & Shoots group you started. To give and receive energy, I kissed it—the plant, not the children (although they give me energy too)—and I have just received your letter saying it is planted out in a special place on the Switzer Ranch.
Now let me thank Stewart Henchie for sharing information about the reintroduction of the interrupted brome in the United Kingdom. And David Aplin, I am very grateful for all that you told me about the brome of the Ardennes and the fascinating sequence of events that led to saving this little grass from certain extinction.
Joshua Kaiser of Rishi Tea, not only did you and your staff share information with me but I was invited to your offices and given a chance to talk with all your staff. And you made a special tea to benefit JGI. Thank you so very much.
And thank you also to Debra Music and Joe Whinney of Theo Chocolate. You answered all our questions and provided us with many wonderful photographs. And Joe, you taught me so much about the growing of cacao and the work you are doing to improve the lives of the local villagers—including in the politically unstable DRC, one of the areas where JGI is working to protect the forest.
I’m not sure quite whom to thank when it comes to our JGI coffee-growing project in Tanzania. It all started when Green Mountain Coffee Roasters came to test the quality of the beans. Our TACARE team, under the leadership of Emmanuel Mtiti, worked with the coffee growers and encouraged the development of the cooperative. Mtiti and Mary Mavanza, thank you both for enabling me to visit the project on several occasions.
I am, of course, overwhelmed by the fact that Christian Hanak, known as a rose author—or “rose poet,” as he calls himself—and Guillaume Didier, a rose breeder, created, between them, the Jane Goodall rose. You arranged for me to “baptize” it, closely collaborating with David LeFranc and Jeroen Haijtink of JGI-France, and I was so terribly grateful for all that happened on that so-special day. As a bonus, we visited the gardens of Versailles, where the director presented me with a pair of secateurs (pruning shears)—for, he said, you will need them to prune your rose. And these were no ordinary secateurs—each handle was inset with polished wood taken from an ancient oak, a much-loved tree that had blown down in a terrible storm. It had originally been planted, along with many others, for Marie Antoinette in 1786. Most of the tree was left to lie where it fell, a historical monument. But some of the wood had been harvested and used, sparingly, for very special purposes. What a gift!
Whenever I think of the gardens that have been planted on the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation, I am deeply moved, and I have the utmost admiration for Jason Schoch and Patricia Hammond, who, against all odds, have succeeded. You have involved not only the Roots & Shoots children but their parents and a number of the elders. You are bringing back new understanding of the plants that are part of the food and medicine culture of the people. And this, along with the many other projects you have started, is bringing new hope to the reservation. I thank you so very much for providing me with all the information I needed for the book and the inspiration I get from your work.
Indeed, gardens are good for the spirit. Thank you, Revocatus Edwards, Shadrack Meshach, and Japhet Jonas, for giving me the facts about the gardens in the Lugufu refugee camp. And I am grateful, also, to Mary Raphaely, coordinator for the Natural Growth Project, for checking the facts in my story about the torture victims and making corrections and suggestions.
And thank you
, too, Bill Wallauer and Kristin Mosher, for helping us with photos of your garden—both before and after you transformed it into a miniparadise for wildlife.
Gary Zeller, as always you are involved in all manner of “eco-innovations.” Thank you so much for sharing information about “Garden Up.”
John Seed. My word! You have contributed hugely to this book. I close my eyes now and I am back, in my imagination, sitting with you on the grass under a tree in Sydney. And you are telling me about how you got involved in activism and the many successful campaigns you have led. As we talked about the urgent need to protect our forests, there was a seagull listening to us, not knowing about the world we are trying to save. His world needs help too, desperately. But fortunately for him, he does not know about that either.
I learned about Richard St. Barbe Baker from Lord Eden. John, I am so grateful to you for giving me a copy of My Life, My Trees, one of the many books he wrote. From it I learned so much about the history of forest protection. Why have we not all heard of this extraordinary man? I thought it was just ignorant me—not true. I have asked many, many people if they knew about Baker—almost nobody did. I am amazed by his life and his accomplishments, and plan to share some of this in our blog.
Our efforts to protect the forests to the south of Gombe in Tanzania, described in chapter 17, are proving extremely successful, thanks to the tireless work of our team on the ground under the overall direction of Emmanuel Mtiti. Mtiti, you have been with us since our TACARE program began, you and Aristides Kashula and Mary Mavanza, and I cannot begin to thank you for all you have done for me and all I have learned from you.
We are really grateful for funding from the EU, USAID, and the Norwegian government, which is helping us to restore and protect a total area of more than 4,600 square miles, which encompasses the home of almost half of Tanzania’s remaining chimpanzees. And across the lake, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC, we are involved in protecting 103,125 square miles of prime chimpanzee habitat.
Special thanks to Dario Merlo, executive director of JGI-DRC, and all our staff for doing such a remarkable job there despite the political instability. I am really grateful to the Arcus Foundation for your support, and to Jane Lawton of JGI-Canada for making a successful application to CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) for additional funding. Other JGIs have helped with our forest programs—Diederik Visser from the Netherlands, David Lefranc and Jeroen Haijtink from France, Ferran Guallar from Spain.
Dr. Lilian Pintea, JGI’s vice president for conservation science, I am so very happy that you joined our team. By using the most up-to-date GIS, GPS, and satellite-imagery technology you are mapping those areas where JGI is working so that government agencies and villagers can determine which areas should be set aside for conservation. Much of this work is made possible thanks to the generosity and support we have had from Jack Dangermond, founder and president of Esri. And it is not just the contributions from your company but your personal commitment and friendship for which I am so very grateful. You even agreed to join our JGI board.
Chuck Herring, you opened the doors of DigitalGlobe to Lilian back in 2005. And Chuck Chaapel, I know you have spent hours and hours during weekends and at night pre-processing thousands of images for JGI forest projects all around Africa. I am overwhelmed by your contribution, and it was wonderful to meet you both and actually see some of the extraordinary work that is going on at Digital-Globe. As I told you, I don’t pretend to understand the sophisticated technology, but I certainly understand how it helps us in the field.
And Rebecca Moore, of Google Earth Outreach program, you have been a staunch supporter ever since we first met and you told me how you had used satellite imagery to show your local community that plans to log a pristine forest would endanger the community’s children, since helicopters carrying huge tree trunks would have to fly right over the school. And this saved the forest. I was so impressed—and from there you have gone on to give us huge support. Google Earth, thanks to your efforts, is providing the Android smartphone tablets and cloud technology to help local communities monitor their forests around Gombe and Masito-Ugalla in Tanzania. I value our friendship, too.
I learned a great deal about REDD+ and carbon trading from Jeff Horowitz, founder of Avoided Deforestation Partners. Jeff, your tireless efforts on behalf of saving our forests are astounding, and it was thanks to you that I was able to take my message to a number of international conferences, including the climate conferences at Copenhagen, Cancún, Durban, and, lastly, Rio+20. Disappointing outcomes overall, but with a good deal of positive momentum for our efforts to save forests.
It would indeed be remiss if I did not express gratitude to government agencies and officials, particularly in departments of Natural Resources, National Parks, and Forest Reserves, in Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, and the Republic of the Congo, for their cooperation and support for our various JGI projects, including our efforts to protect forests and biodiversity and to encourage sustainable farming in communities around wilderness areas.
I shall never forget meeting the Survivor tree, the Callery pear who survived the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. I also met Bram Gunther, Ron Vega, and Richie Cabo on that special day, three people who helped her live. It was an intensely emotional time, and I thank you, all three, for sharing your amazing stories and spending time with us that day. And, too, for helping us get the photos we needed for the book. And thank you, Vickie Karp, director of Public Affairs, NYC Parks & Recreation, for I know how hard you worked behind the scenes to help us get in touch with all the people involved.
Now comes the hardest part of these acknowledgments, for I must thank all the wonderful people who shared stories that are not in the book. I want to tell you how very much I appreciated all of you who answered our e-mails and shared information about your work. I have to be honest—I got carried away doing research for this book, utterly fascinated by all that I was learning. I wanted to write about all of it—alas, as with my last book about endangered animals, this one was getting way too long. Cuts—many cuts—had to be made.
The good news is that the cut material will appear on my blog on the janegoodall.org/seedsofhope website. And I am assured that it will be an exciting and interactive blog—a place where I can tell so many other wonderful stories and where everyone can share their own comments and updates about the kingdom of the plants.
When I met Dr. Robert Robichaux, I knew there could never be a more passionate advocate for the flora of Hawaii. I had an unexpected free evening during a 2011 tour, and Rob joined me for a picnic supper in my hotel room somewhere in California. You had already shared with me details of the successful program to restore the beautiful Mauna Loa silverswords. (I wrote about it in Hope for Animals and Their World.) Now you have told me about another of Hawaii’s most critically endangered plants, the stunningly beautiful lobelia—Clermontia peleana. The story is ready for my blog.
Valente Souza, I want to thank you for sharing information about your amazing, ongoing efforts to reforest forty thousand hectares (one hundred thousand acres) of forest in the western mountains around Mexico City. And for involving Roots & Shoots in the program. You also sent me a marvelous story about a lawyer who went to defend some old trees and won the case. People will love that tale!
Rick Asselta, you told me how the students and faculty of all eleven campuses of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, under the leadership of Myraida Anderson and her partner, Alejandro, have organized the biggest tree-planting program in the country’s history—64,000 trees are already planted by families around the country with a goal of having 12.2 million trees planted by the end of 2012. And now some of our Roots & Shoots members are helping with this effort. I am really looking forward to sharing this story.
So many people, friends, and colleagues have contributed by telling me about projects they feel would add value to the book. Many of them are written up and ready to be posted on my blog as so
on as it opens. At this point in time I just want to send all of you a really big thank-you.
Polly Cevallos, you wrote to so many botanists who are doing fascinating work, telling them about my book—and you introduced me to many of them also, during my visits to Australia. Annette Debenham of JGI-Australia, you too have contacted your friends—one of them, Jenny Stackhouse, has sent me a list of people doing marvelous things, and I really look forward to contacting some of them.
Dr. Jim Begley, of the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority, is involved in a project to restore the Australian grasslands in Victoria. It is a wonderful program, as is the Grassy Groundcover Research Project of Dr. Paul Gibson-Roy, also in Australia. And on the other side of the world, Dr. Mike Forsberg is working on protection and restoration of the Great Plains ecosystem. And when we post all that material on the restoration of the world’s grasslands, I so look forward, Matilda Essig, to sharing some of your exquisite artwork depicting the prairie grasses. I was so grateful that you offered to contribute some to this book.
Thank you, Mark Fountain, for telling me about the fascinating and successful efforts to save the Davies’ waxflower (Phebalium daviesii) in Tasmania.
Ferran Guallar, of JGI-Spain, introduced me to his friend Dr. Martí Boada, and Sònia Sànchez, a member of his group, told me of a really interesting project they are doing—restoring genetic strains of apples in Spain. I look forward to learning more about that.