I Can't See the Forest for the…Hey, What Happened to the Trees?

The once tree-covered highlands around Ankafobe.

Madagascar is a weird and wonderful world of amazing plants and animals. Huge forests with towering trees and jumping lemurs. Giraffe-sized giant birds and tortoises as big as school desks roam around the hills. It is a paradise of life found nowhere else on earth.

Or at least that was true 2,500 years ago. But ever since pesky humans showed up, paradise has slowly been disappearing. Now there are very few forests or even trees for that matter. About 90% of the lush life-giving rain forests are gone. Those big birds and lumbering tortoises are extinct and so are many of the lemurs, fish, reptiles and other unique beasties that used to call the Red Island home.

There are still little bits of this once wild wonderland, but many of those bits are in trouble too. People cut down trees for houses and cooking fires they need to survive. And some people come and cut down the oldest and most beautiful trees like Rosewood to sell for lots of money. And if a tree survives the axes and chainsaws, it may not be safe yet. Fires rage around the country in many places.

Farmers burn trees and brush to make new fields for rice, beans and manioc. But fire can quite quickly get out of control and burn much more that just one or two soon-to-be fields. And without trees, the hard rains that pour down on the island for half the year can quickly wash away the good soil that used to be protected by the trees' sheltering canopy and thick roots.

This all means that it is very important to protect what forests still survive. Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) is one of the groups trying to protect those survivors. And my wife, Dr. Cindy, is one of the scientists helping them.

These photos are from one tiny but special patch of forest that MBG is saving. It is only a fragment of what the forest used to be. But they are working hard to save what trees are left and plant new trees to make the forest bigger.

Does saving one little patch of trees make a difference? Well, just ask a Schizolaena bush.

"Hey, where in the world am I supposed to find a talking Schizolaena bush to ask?"

Well, to be honest, nowhere. Bushes don't talk. But if you want to find a non-talking Schizolaena bush, you will have to come to Madagascar. But not just anywhere in Madagascar. You have to come to a forest. And not just any forest. You will have to come to Ankafobe, this forest fragment that MBG is fighting to save. Every Schizolaena bush in the world lives in this one tiny forest. Only 100 bushes in a forest no bigger than 50 soccer fields.

That is what is called endangered. But then again, that's better than being called extinct.

One of the only 100 Schizolaena bushes in the world.

Awesome butterfly or awesome moth? Check the wings. Wings flat: moth. Wings up: butterfly. That means it's an awesome moth. Not all moths love the nighttime.

Ah, an old favorite...the eyeball leech. I did find it latched onto my hand, but it didn't even get near my peepers.

Replanting a forest takes a lot of trees. And all trees start as seeds. Local villagers run this MBG nursery that produced over 6000 saplings last year.

Saving a forest is more than just putting up keep out signs and planting a few trees. Local people have to have some way of making a living if they can't cut down the trees for money. Here is one wonderful way that MBG helps. This is a fish farm that produces fish that can be sold at nearby markets. It takes up less space than other forms of farming. It produces more money. It also generates compost that can be used for plants and vegetables. Sadly, a large rain the week before broke the damn and most of the fish were washed down into the surrounding rice paddies.