When Families Grow Their Own Fuel: A Visit to the Reforestation Nurseries

Last week, our office felt fuller than usual. The Wellkind Guatemala team joined us at TRL’s office alongside Michael Rosen, President of the Rotary Club of Lake Atitlán, and Candis Krummel — Rotary member and President of TRL’s Board of Directors. It was more than a courtesy visit. It was a chance to sit together around a shared mission and then go see it growing with our own eyes.

After the meeting, we headed out to the nurseries in Panabaj and Sanchaj, where trays of small seedlings are just beginning their journey. Tiny for now — but that’s the point.

The idea is simple, and it’s brilliant.

This is Wellkind Guatemala’s project. The goal isn’t just to plant trees. It’s to help families in the Tz’utujil Maya communities around Lake Atitlán grow trees on their own land — trees they will plant, care for, and eventually prune in a specific way that produces small-diameter wood cuttings. Those cuttings become renewable fuel for energy-efficient cook stoves, closing a loop that addresses both environmental restoration and the day-to-day energy needs of the families doing the planting.

It’s not a handout. It’s a system — one where the community is both the steward and the beneficiary.

15,000 trees. Real training. Long-term thinking.

The project, funded through Rotary’s Global Grant, will distribute 15,000 seedlings to community members across Santiago Atitlán and surrounding communities. The nurseries currently have cypress and native species growing, with an emphasis on biodiversity and trees that belong to this landscape. Participants receive training not just in how to plant, but in how to manage their trees for the long term. Farmers who complete the program receive tools to keep going well after the grant period ends.

Why this visit mattered

Seeing the nurseries up close — even with the seedlings still small and the work just beginning — has a way of making the vision concrete. Michael and Candis didn’t just hear about the project. They saw where it starts: in trays of soil, in the hands of people who know this land.

TRL has walked alongside the Tz’utujil Maya community of Santiago Atitlán for over a decade. We are proud to support this project, which we believe can make a real difference — for the families, for the land, and for the future of this region we all care so much about.

The seedlings are small today. But they’re already real.