A Letter from ARC's Founder & President

In 1989, when I was young and foolish, still in my twenties, I moved to the edge of a 3,000-foot cliff in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania to fly a hang glider and write a novel. I built a one-room stone house on a spectacular spot where the sky met sheer grey cliffs festooned with hanging gardens of tropical green. Soaring about the base of the clouds, I could see below how badly the mountains were scarred. The rainforest that had cloaked the Usambaras for millions of years was mostly gone. Only patches remained. On the steep slopes of raw red clay were patchy cornfields and little villages of thatched-roof huts.

The last stand of ancient forest was set on the high summit of the range. I used to go there to marvel at ocotea trees almost the size of redwoods. A botanist told me the biggest ocoteas were at least one thousand years old. One day in 1991 I saw that two dozen of the giants had been felled. They were being cut into long planks by two men, one who stood on the side of the fallen tree and the other, holding the opposite end of a long saw, who stood in a pit they had dug beneath it. Looking around, I thought: they have murdered over twenty thousand years of tree life.

I jumped on an old motorcycle and drove ten hours to Dar es Salaam, where I had become friends with the American ambassador and his wife, Ned and Katia Dejarnette. They helped me re-register with the local authorities the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, an organization formed by scientists in the mid-eighties that had fallen asleep when many had left Tanzania. The Dejarnettes helped me raise the funds to start the first village project, for it was quickly apparent that the key to conserving the remaining rainforest was to help the communities that call the forest their home. 

Realizing there was a whole network of people back in the US who cared about the conservation of Tanzania’s rainforests just as much as I did, I came back to New York City and got together a group of passionate individuals to found ARC’s predecessor the Tanzania Wildlife Fund*. Our goal was, and still is, simple: raise funds for grassroots conservation projects and generate awareness of the important environmental, economic, cultural, and social roles of these forests. 

Back in 1991, I put the ball in motion, but so many others have played a vital role in helping the organization grow into what it is today. Most of the credit goes to the dedicated folks on the ground in Tanzania who have built ARC’s field partner – the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group – into what must be one of the most effective forest conservation and village development organizations in all of Africa. 

As we near our 20th year, we can look back proudly on what has been accomplished while trying not to be daunted by the great challenges that still lie ahead. We invite you to join us in our efforts to conserve and restore one of the oldest and most biodiverse forests in the world. 

Salaama,

Carter Coleman, President 

*In 2002 the Tanzania Wildlife Fund officially changed its name to African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC) to better align with its mission of conserving and restoring African rainforests.