Celebrates 17 years of changing lives through planting trees.
Since 2007, Oboz Footwear, the True to the Trail® outdoor footwear company headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, has planted a tree for every pair of its footwear sold. As of this month Oboz has planted over 6 million trees through its One More Tree program, created in partnership with Trees for the Future (TREES). In conjunction with reaching the 6 million tree milestone, Oboz will soon recognize the completion of the four-year Tabora Forest Garden Project in Tanzania, Africa with TREES in May.
“Tree plantings are a core pillar of our brand and we are so proud to have helped plant so many trees while also helping improve peoples’ lives,” said Oboz president Amy Beck. “These plantings are about so much more than sequestering carbon. They are about people and helping them provide nutrition and economic stability for their families.”
TREES plants most of the trees in grassroots projects in East and West African countries. In the mountains of Mali and Kenya, the trees protect soil and provide livelihoods for hillside communities in the form of fruit, livestock feed, and natural fertilizers. In the arid lands of Senegal and Tanzania, fruit trees combined with vegetable gardens enable impoverished families to end their chronic hunger. This Forest Garden Approach has proven to increase farmers’ income by 400%.
In the spring of 2020, Oboz and TREES launched the Tabora Forest Garden Project in Tanzania, Africa. The four-year project consisted of 3 stages. In the first one to two years, the farmers learned how to protect, stabilize, and segment their fields by growing “fertilizer” trees and growing a protective barrier, a “Living Fence.” In years two and three, they diversified their fields with a vegetable and fruit tree portfolio to meet the family’s nutritional needs and market opportunities. In years three and four, the farmers learned about advanced Forest Garden management and conservation techniques to optimize the long-term health and productivity of the land.
At the completion of the Tabora Forest Garden Project 2.5 million trees will have been planted, over 500 farmers trained and the lives of over 4,000 family beneficiaries will have been impacted.
TREES was recently recognized by the United Nations as one of the best large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts on the planet and one of seven UN World Restoration Flagship organizations. The prestigious Flagship award is part of an effort by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to ensure that measurable progress is made on the UN’s environmental goals by 2030.
Beyond the One More Tree program, Oboz Footwear has enacted numerous sustainability efforts throughout its business. In 2023 the brand achieved B-Corp status and joined the community of companies using business as a Force for Good®.
To learn more about the One More Tree program, Oboz’s award-winning line of footwear, or find a retailer near you, visit www.obozfootwear.com.
Photo credit: Trees for the Future
