BRAZIL — A project in the Amazon rainforest is using a new technique to plant trees in the largest ever tropical reforestation. <br /> <br />Conservation International plans to restore 70,000 acres of land cleared for grazing with 73 million trees, Fast Company reported. <br /> <br />The trees will be planted in the "arc of deforestation" that stretches across the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Acre, Pará and Rondônia, as well as the Xingu watershed. <br /> <br />The planting method is called muvuca, which is Portuguese for a small place with many people. <br /> <br />The muvuca method involves spreading hundreds of native tree seeds of various species over deforested land. <br /> <br />Natural selection then allows the most suited trees to grow and thrive in a much thicker density than plant-by-plant reforestation. <br />Plant-by-plant techniques usually have a density of 160 plants per hectare, while with muvuca, the density is 2,500 species per hectare. Scientists believe after 10 years, it could reach 5,000 trees per hectare.
