# Mount Kenya Trust

> Restoring Mount Kenya's forests with indigenous trees, community nurseries and tree monitors since 1999

Source: https://treerm.org/org/mount-kenya-trust · Updated 2026-11-08 · Data license: CC BY 4.0 (https://treerm.org/about#license)

## Facts

- Type: Nonprofit
- Scope: Regional
- Headquarters: Nanyuki, Laikipia County, Kenya
- Founded: 1999
- Website: https://www.mountkenyatrust.org
- Donate: https://www.mountkenyatrust.org/donate
- Events calendar: https://www.10to4.org/
- Countries where they plant: Kenya
- Activity types: Reforestation (primary), Agroforestry, Nurseries & seedlings, Disaster & fire recovery
- Trees on record: 3,000,000 (larger of latest cumulative figure and sum of annual figures; trees planted or distributed)

## About

The Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust, established in 1999, works with Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and 27 forest-edge communities to protect and restore the Mount Kenya World Heritage Site and its 2,100 square kilometre landscape. It plants only indigenous species, buys seedlings from community nursery groups, employs tree monitors who track survival, runs forest-fire and anti-poaching teams and a 'Grow Forests, Grow Communities' agroforestry scheme for farmers. The Trust reports 3 million trees in active regeneration and 270,000 hectares protected, and funds its work partly through the annual 10to4 Mountain Bike Challenge.

## Programs

- **Forest Landscape Restoration** — Reforestation (1999–present): Replants degraded forest blocks such as Ontulili-Karuri and Imenti with 100% indigenous species, with dedicated Tree Monitors tracking every planting site from planting to maturity. https://www.mountkenyatrust.org/forest-restoration
- **Community tree nurseries** — Nurseries & seedlings: Trains and equips community-based nursery groups around Mount Kenya and runs the Trust's own indigenous nursery, which also sells seedlings to fund forest protection. https://www.mountkenyatrust.org/forest-restoration
- **Forest Fire Mitigation** — Disaster & fire recovery: Trains and equips Community Forest Association fire crews (102 people from 5 CFAs over 2024-2025) to prevent and fight forest fires on the mountain. https://www.mountkenyatrust.org/forest-restoration

## Metrics

> Note: Mount Kenya Trust publishes its annual reports only as Issuu flipbooks whose text could not be read, so no annual planting total is recorded here; search-engine excerpts of its 2024 report cite a 3,000-hectare restoration milestone and over 124,000 trees planted in Ontulili-Karuri in 2024, but these were not verified against the report. The 3 million figure is labelled 'trees in active regeneration' on the website and is treated here as the Trust's cumulative planting count. The Trust's Kenyan office town (Nanyuki) is not stated on its website; its UK charity (no. 1175321) is registered in Axbridge, Somerset.

| Metric | Year | Value | Cumulative | Program | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---:|---|---|---|---|
| Trees planted | 2026 | 3,000,000 | yes (to date) | Forest Landscape Restoration | Self-reported | [source](https://www.mountkenyatrust.org/forest-restoration) Forest Landscape Restoration page, 'Impact' counters (undated, viewed November 2026): 'Trees In Active Regeneration 3,000,000', alongside '270,000 Hectares Protected' and '3.5 Million People Sustained' |
| Seedlings produced | 2025 | 500,000 | no (that year) | Community tree nurseries | Self-reported | [source](https://mailchi.mp/ebb56ddf8032/monthly-operations-report-april-10602296) Mountain Dispatches newsletter, Oct-Dec 2025: community nurseries 'producing over 500,000 high-quality seedlings in preparation for the rainy-season planting period' |

Confidence: self-reported is the organization's own published figure; independently verified means a third party confirmed it; estimated means TreeRM derived it and the note says how.

## Links

- x: https://x.com/mountkenyatrust
- instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountkenyatrust/
- facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mountkenyatrustonline/
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mount-kenya-trust/
- youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mountkenyatrust254

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