Santo Domingo. - Environment minister Dr. Bautista Rojas called the rescue of the Jimenoa, Yuna and Yaque del Sur river basins a national priority, because they’re important water reserves.

Rojas headed reforestation crews in the community Los Capacitos in Jarabacoa (central), accompanied by Army Chief of Staff Ruben Paulino, who ordered his brigades to join Environment’s reforestation crews, to mark Reforestation Month, this October.

Hundreds of community groups, various government and non-government agencies, and farmers’ organization joined the effort hosted by Jarabacoa’s Environment and Natural Resources School.

In Los Capacitos were planted around 2,000 Creole mahoganies, Dominican Republic’s national tree, while saplings of the pine occidentalis were planted in all villages and adjacent communities.

Among the organizations which joined the activity figure the Lions Club, Plan Cordillera, Fondos Mineros, Plan Yaque, Café Monte Alto, Golf Club, the neighbors of El Limonal and Los Capacitos, Buena Vista Homemakers Club, Coffee Cluster, Eco-Tourism Cluster, the Buena Vista middle and grade schools, the Fernando Arturo Merino, Agroforestry University, the Forest Producers Association and the Dominican Army Brigade.

Rojas said the reforestation effort aims to plant 4.0 million trees in the first 100 days of president Danilo Medina’s Administration.