The cost of planting has been and still remains only fifty cents per tree. This covers propagation, tending tree seedlings for 12-15 months, and delivering trees to the sites where community members will plant them. This cost also includes the continuous monitoring and participant support for which MRF and LCHPP are well known. Jose Luis has worked hard to establish trust and acceptance of sustainable reforestation as a way of life for the ejidos. Each year more trees are planted and more ejidatarios are involved. By the year 2002, we were planting over 300,000 per season, with over one thousand families committed to reforesting their lands. More individuals and communities participate as they realize that the trees are their future.

THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE FUND ARE:
• To restore forest ecosystem integrity in the State of Michoacan and the State of Mexico and thus preserve the monarch butterfly overwintering habitat in Mexico
• To give individuals worldwide the opportunity to help protect the Monarch Butterfly Overwintering Area in Mexico
• To enable the native communities to reach economic self-sufficiency through the development of a sustainable forest products industry
• To establish reforestation as a workable strategy for long-term protection of threatened forest ecosystems, for the local human communities, and for the wildlife that lives there
• To help conserve ecosystems by creating alternative sites for extracting forest products needed for domestic use and as a source of family income
The Fund’s primary activities are building public awareness and reforestation.