Welcome to the website of the Rare Trees Association (Formerly The Rare Trees Trust).
The mission of the Rare Trees Association is the protection, conservation and propagation of rare and endangered plants in Israel and the Middle East, especially plants with medicinal properties and plants on "red" lists.
The loss of plant varieties and whole plant species is often the result of road building, constuction of new neighborhoods or careless and inappropriate agriculture. Plant populations, like animal populations, can drop below the point of healthy diversity or be depleted to the point where the species cannot replenish its numbers and goes into irreversible decline. But plant species are much easier to save than endangered wild life. Plants may be propagated from seeds, cuttings or tissue culture. Seeds can be kept for many years until conditions are right for replanting.
With care and foresight it is often possible to return rare and endangered plants to their native range after the bulldozers have stopped working and the projects which put the plants in danger are completed. Meanwhile individual plants and collections of rare plants can be kept safe in areas reserved especially for them. This is what the Rare Trees Association is doing.
The Rare Trees Association (RTA) is an amuta/non profit organization registered in Israel (Amuta 580483543) and in the United States (Member 80415 of the Society for Non-Profit Organizations and Charities)
The RTA’s current mission includes cooperative work with Hadasah Hospital, MERC/AID and the International Arid Lands Consortium on the preservation of rare and endangered plants.
A research center composed of reception area, library, plant room, bathroom, bomb shelter or protected room as well as accommodations for visiting researchers has been established in a farm building.
Greenhouses, caretaker’s quarters and a nursery format are planned to blend in to the surrounding area, altogether comprising one dunam of constructed area.
These facilities will be oriented to the sun, the prevailing winds and weather events.
The buildings will use passive and active solar energy for heating and cooling, have working gray water systems and leave as small as possible footprint on the natural vegetation and formations of the area.
The rest of the land will be planted in herbs, bushes, trees and flowers, with care so as to disturb the existing vegetation as little as possible in a series of raised beds, small gardens and integrated orchards.
Many of the plants are slow- growing and exceedingly hard to obtain. Transplanting such rare specimens is difficult, often causing serious losses. Because of this all plantings will be done for long- term growth and development in situ.
Natural vegetation on the site will be disturbed as little as possible. The RTA site will take advantage of all new developments of passive solar engineering and use wind breaking trees, shade trees and living screens of vegetation to warm and cool its public spaces.
The many rare and important plants of the RTA collections
Will be presented in integrated orchard garden formats, mimicking the components of a wild ecosystem while allowing for easy identification and access.
Shaded verandas on the south and west sides of the RTA library building and solarium formats on the northern and eastern walls will create microclimates for additional learning space, relaxation and enjoyment. Suggested activities for these areas include lectures and classes by local herbalists, cooks and gardeners showcasing their ethnic and family herb lore.
Established in a renovated building or a building made of local materials the library and veranda of the RTA will be the center of learning and activity. The library will house many books of botany, natural studies and herbal medicine in at least three languages. The library and veranda will be excellent places for formal and informal study groups.
The roof of the RTA library will double as a solar collector and a catchment area for rainwater. The rainwater will be stored in a series of sumps and ponds to nourish the various plant beds and collections. Up to 90% of the rainwater on the site will be used in this manner. Gray water from the Institute will be purified and recycled through the gardens.
The land and farm buildings of the RTA plant reserve site have been purchased with the help of two donors and horticulturalists in the USA who prefer to remain a anonymous.
Sara Levene of the Wolfson Foundation has pledged 20,000 pounds for fencing, seed bank equipment and other necessities.
The Natural Medicine Unit of Hadassah Hospital of Jerusalem has aided in the collection of rare and endangered species and the testing of material medica.
The RTA was aided by the local UJA chapter in trash removal and land reclamation around the abandoned farm site.
The following is a list of needs by the Association.
The budget for establishing the center and botanical garden was 500,000 dollars. This sum was raised and the RTA farm is becoming a reality.
But it is estimated that the RTA center will need a budget of 50,000 dollars per year to operate effectively.
An existing building that can be renovated into a research center and accommodation for researchers is needed-- or as an alternative, permission to build a new building to use as a research center will be necessary.
The RTA is still searching for a site for the RTA library
Fencing and gates will be necessary if the land is near a public road or an animal husbandry project. If the site is located near private residences these will not be necessary. A caretaker’s cottage should be built by the main point of access as rare botanical specimens are often vandalized or stolen for resale and the current library of the RTA includes many valuable books.
Public access: The grounds of the Institute will be open to the public on specified weekdays and will admit school children accompanied by their teachers, students of herbology and other persons interested in medicinal herbs and wild plant.
There will also be lectures, seminars and classes about the use of herbs and the herb lore of Israel’s diverse ethnic groups.
Some of the plants and trees will have to be planted out in permanent sites by the end of 2008.
As to the project mission, this kind of research should have been well underway by the year 2000 when second and third generation antibiotics began to fail.