In 1979 a teenager named Jadav Payeng started planting trees on barren land on Majuli, an island in the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. He just kept planting, year after year, one seedling at a time. It took close to 30 years, but the barren land became a lush forest of about 550 hectares, more than 1,300 acres. Today it shelters birds, deer, and even elephants and tigers. In 2010 he was honored as the Forest Man of India. He gives credit to the birds, cows, deer, wind, water, and elephants that helped spread the seeds, but it started with one young man and a lot of patient work.
