In the presence of 100 Israeli and international Lions club members, the Lions Movement Forest was inaugurated during a ceremony in Yatir Forest on March 19, 2017.
The Lions Club is a volunteer organization working for the benefit of the community, which aims to spread the spirit of understanding between people all over the globe. Throughout the world some 1,350,000 members are active in 42,000 clubs, in 206 countries.
The guests at the Lions Movement Forest inauguration included Lions members from Germany, Poland and Romania.
“Environmental projects are one of the most important domains the Lions are involved in,” says Gudrun Yngvaottir from Iceland, Vice President of Lion Club International. “We promote tree planting wherever green areas are scarce. It is important for people to help nature renew itself. Climate change is caused by human activities, so it is our job to reduce the damage”.
Lions Israel, through its 950 members in 32 Clubs around the country, volunteers for the community in diverse ways: whether it’s supporting children from underprivileged families or helping Holocaust survivors, delivering food baskets or lending medical equipment, engaging in road accident prevention activities or increasing environmental awareness.
The guests gathered at the Forester’s house, where they could look out over the woods and take in the green views. Over the years KKL-JNF has developed various sites in the Yatir forest: a hiking trail, preserved archeological ruins, and rest and recreation areas. A few months ago, KKL-JNF started operating an educational center for young adults in the Forester’s House, complete with lodging, guides and educational activities.
“Trees represent the past, the present and the future” says Michael Ben Abu, Director of the Israel Fundraising Department at KKL-JNF. “This area is in the desert, but it is now blooming and green. It’s amazing to see how trees, planted by humans in the desert, help combat desertification. This is the realization of Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl’s vision, he said ‘if you will it, then it is no dream.’”
Yatir, located to north-east of the city of Beer Sheva, covers 30,000 dunams (7413 acres) and has over 4 million trees. This is the biggest planted forest in the Middle East. KKL-JNF started planting it in the 1960s. In the past KKL-JNF would mainly plant pine trees, but nowadays it focuses on indigenous species and takes into account the ecological services provided by the forest.
The trees are irrigated using a runoff rainwater harvesting method developed by the KKL-JNF. A system of earthworks in the form of limans, shikhim and damns trap and pool water from flashfloods; preventing soil erosion, enabling the forest to survive the harsh climate and assisting in combating desertification.
Itzik Efron, chair of the Lions Israel sustainability committee, led the participants on a tour of Yatir and the ruins of ancient Anim, a Jewish village from biblical and Talmudic times, from which remain remnants of an ancient synagogue and agricultural facilities. “The planting of the Lions Forest in the Yatir Forest is a dream come true”, says Efron. “Tree planting is extremely important for sustainability”
At the end of the ceremony, the International Lions Club representatives got to work and planted carob and arbutus trees. Yonina Fuchs and Debbie Efron from Lions Israel recited the Planter’s Prayer. “Trees are highly appreciated in Israel, and we celebrate everything connected to them,” says Shmuel Saf, Israel Lions District Governor. “Planting a forest in honor of the Lions movement, is a double celebration for us”.
The Lions Forest will continue to grow and help make the desert bloom. The forest truly symbolizes the values of the movement - caring for people and being responsible for the environment.