• October 7, 2010

The Timberland Co. says it plans to plant five million trees in the next five years in Haiti and in China's Horqin Desert, two regions "that have long suffered severe and widespread impacts from deforestation."

And to increase its efforts, the shoe marketer is also launching the Timberland Earthkeepers Virtual Forest Facebook application. Consumers "can help Timberland plant additional trees in Haiti (above and beyond the five-in-five commitment) by creating a virtual forest on Facebook," it says. "The larger the virtual forest, the more real trees planted. Virtual foresters can name their forest, add messages to friends' trees, and see how they rank against other users."

The real-world tree planting component of the virtual forest program is capped at one million trees or the end date of Oct. 31, 2011, whichever comes first. In the last 10 years, the Stratham, N.H.-based company says, it has planted one million trees.