On February 23, members of Rotary Club of Palau led by President Danka Ledgerwood, along with families, friends, guests, and the Lake Ngardok PAN staff went once again to the PAN site to plant more trees and help with the reforestation of Palau. Our diverse group of 20 people(Palauan, Americans, Filipino’s, Chinese, Europeans and Japanese)set forth that morning braving the always intense sunlight and thankful for the cooling breezes as we worked steadily to plant 150 trees.
The day began with a brief introduction by PAN staff regarding Lake Ngardok PAN site and its importance. Not only is it the largest natural lake in Micronesia, It is also the source of water for the Melekeok community. The group then walked to the planting site where Omar Faustino pointed out and explained the efforts taken to control erosion in the area. Lomalinda Gabriel then gave a demonstration on the preferred way to plant the trees and after that, the entire group of young and old joined forces to plant the 150 small seedlings and cuttings that were provided from the PAN plant nursery.
The Rotary Club would like to extend a big Rotary “Thank You” to all who were there. They included the PAN staff who took time off from their weekend to direct the effort; Omar, Lomalinda, Marcil Omengkar, Ur Elbelau, and Eric Mongami. Also George and Veronika Hajek, visitors from the Czech Republic who enthusiastically joined us as a way to give back to Palau for their wonderful stay here. We had Tracy Atkins and Nels Liljedahl who had just arrived in Palau for a 3-month stay doing land conservation work as USA Embassy of Palau Science Fellows. There were many members young and old from The Little Angels Center, and finally hard working staff from the Palau Shop who all joined in to quickly get the planting finished before noon. We invite more volunteers from the community to join us on our next planting expedition in March. Anyone interested should ask a Rotarian for details or call 779-7473, 488-4323 or 775-4734.