Indigenous Tribe Plants 100K Trees to Save Sacred Species

When Carl Gakran learned his people's sacred tree was critically endangered, he started with a simple goal: plant 10 seedlings on his family's land. Today, the Zág Institute he founded has planted nearly 100,000 Brazilian pine trees across 2,500 acres of Indigenous territory in southern Brazil.

The Brazilian pine isn't just another tree to the Xokleng people. It appears in their creation story, feeds their community, and gives them their names. "You can't tell the story of our people without speaking of them," says Carl, the institute's executive director.

But like the Xokleng themselves, the species is in danger. Once covering vast stretches of Brazil's Atlantic Forest, these ancient trees now occupy less than 3% of their original range. The IUCN lists them as critically endangered.

Carl saw the connection immediately. "Just as our pine is endangered, my people are also endangered, and consequently our language and culture are endangered," he explains. So in 2016, he and his wife Isabel turned their backyard project into a community movement.

The Zág Institute now involves entire villages in the restoration effort. Schools teach children to care for seedlings like pets. Women harvest seeds using traditional climbing techniques and lead planting workshops. During school holidays, groups of 30 to 60 volunteers gather to plant trees in degraded areas and around water sources.

The approach honors Xokleng tradition at every step. Harvesters speak to the seeds before collecting them and perform harvest rituals. They take only 60% of each tree's cones, leaving the rest for the animals that depend on them for food.

The Ripple Effect

The project is healing more than cultural wounds. As the pines take root with 70 to 80% survival rates, they're restoring springs and bringing life back to damaged land. Some plantings even mark contested territory, a living claim to ancestral lands.

Families across the 37,000-acre Ibirama-La Klãnõ Indigenous Territory now grow their own seedlings. Half the active volunteers are women, many newly trained in photography and technology through institute workshops. The 2,000 people living in 10 villages across the territory are watching their sacred landscape return.

What started as one man's worry about 10 trees has become a blueprint for how communities can save endangered species while strengthening their identity. The Xokleng aren't just planting trees—they're planting hope that their children will grow up surrounded by the forests their ancestors knew.