Green Again Madagascar is restoring the tropical rainforests of eastern Madagascar, which are habitats for lemurs and thousands of plant species found nowhere else on Earth. Nearly 90% of MadagascarÕs biodiverse rainforests have been lost to unsustainable agriculture. This adversely affects local Malagasy farmers who harvest much of their food from surrounding rainforests. Green Again Madagascar employs, trains and partners with these subsistence farmers to re-establish diverse native tree plantations. Our crew of farmers manages the nurseries where seedlings are prepared for planting and also designs the planting installations based on our tree survival research. Our nursery grows 78 species of trees, which are native to Eastern Madagascar and therefore more likely to survive long-term. On planting day, our crews clear the land and then record the GPS position, height, and width of every tree. We continue to do this for three years after planting to collect data on each and every tree. We take things slowly to get the science right and make sure our trees are primed for survival. Donations received through Plant for the Planet support one of our large-scale planting projects that carries out research to improve the success of future tree plantings. We are specifically researching the importance of removing weeds from the base of young, newly planted trees. Weeds inevitably grow around new plantings and can restrict their growth. Currently our crew removes weeds by hand from half of the trees, and leaves the weeds to grow unhindered around the other half. Does this extra effort and significant staff labor improve the survival and strength of planted trees enough to make it worthwhile? We believe that it does and have incorporated this labor into our extended care model. Soon we will have intensive data to prove it. The Green Again planting process from seedling to the end of extended care lasts 3-5 years for every tree. At the end of the process, trees are more likely to survive through to maturity. Tree survival rates rise. Our five-year care and research project amounts to only $3.12 per tree planted, $1.75 of which goes to pay the field crew in Madagascar for their work.