Activities for the regeneration of Timbaktu forests
Protection
The Collective believes in the ability of Nature to heal herself, however this takes a lot of time and is only possible if further destruction and exploitation is first stopped. Therefore the first step was to protect the soil and plants in Timbaktu by temporarily fencing it with thorn bushes, thus keeping sheep, goats and cattle out. In the process the members of the community at Timbaktu realized that in order to make real regenerative development possible, they also had to protect the surrounding hills. These hills have been, officially, under the protection of the forest department since 1929. However, this was never seriously enforced and tree felling and grazing was rampant. The members of the Timbaktu community, therefore, started policing the hills and explained their efforts to trespassers. They were able to stop grazing to a great extent and tree cutting almost totally. 
Fire fighting 
Every year, fires burn the hills of Anantapur District, causing great ecological damage to the flora and fauna of the what remains of the forests. Most of the fires are caused by humans. Sometimes the shepherds start fires, so that with the first rains the grasses come back soon. This does happen but ecologically these fires are devastating. If the fires are not brought under control it is very difficult to regenerate forests. At other times some people start fires to cover the traces of their tree felling activity. And the last but most important reason is the carelessness of smokers who do not stub out their cigarettes or put out the matches. In the beginning the members of the Timbaktu community used to run up the hills in the middle of the nights or during high noon to put out any fire that was seen. This was a very difficult undertaking as fires are sometimes 15 to 20 ft high and the winds blowing at 20 to 30 kilometers an hour. The only way was to make fire lines - burn 15 to 20 ft wide lines across the hills like a grid - so that even if fire started at any one point it would not spread all over. This couple with awareness building among the villagers helped reduce the menace of fires.
 
Fire fighting
Rain water harvesting and soil conservation
Timbaktu was a barren piece of land when the founders bought it in 1990. There was barely any tree or ground cover and the soil was almost dead. Every year the rains would wash away tons of unprotected soil. As all the water would also runoff there was barely any recharge of ground water and so the soil was always parched.

In order to break this vicious cycle and begin ecorestoration and healing activity, this runoff of soil and rainwater had to be stopped. The members of the community began by constructing small earthen bunds in and small rock filled check dams all over Timbaktu. The idea was to plug as many gullys as possible, to reduce the run off and finally to get the water to stay on the land. The best place to store water is under ground. Later bigger check-dams and rock-filled dams were build in the larger streams, to save as much rain and soil as possible.
 
Water body in Timbaktu 
Planting of trees and plants
In the last 12 years, some 30,000 Trees have been planted. While the initial survival rate was only about 5 - 10%, it has now reached a respectable 85%. This increase was mainly caused by the experience acquired in the first years. Today larger pits are dug, more manure is applied and better soil is added to the pits, so that the roots of the small plants can establish themselves easier. Neem seeds from the trees now growing in Timbaktu are used as a natural pesticide. Each plant is nursed for about 8 months in the nursery in Timbaktu before it is planted. Today more money is invested (about Rs. 12 - 13 per plant) which is rewarded by a much higher survival rate.

Experience has shown which trees are more likely to survive and cope with the difficult situation. Only 5 out of 40 species, that had been tried, proved to be strong enough to survive the specific conditions in Timbaktu. Especially Hardwickia binata, Neem. Pongamia and Soapnut trees have yielded good results.
 
Seed Centre
A Seed collection centre was established in Timbaktu during 1994/95. On an average about 120 species of important trees, bushes, herbs and grasses are stocked here. The purpose of this is to store seeds for distribution during the rainy season when seed dibbling is carried out in all the Natural regeneration areas that the Collective is working in and to test out the viability/suitability of various species to Timbaktu and Anantapur in general.

Seed collection is an ongoing process at the Collective and is usually a community effort involving the workers and the children of the school. Most seeds collected are from the trees on hills or nearby forests. Most of these seeds though do not have immediate economic use, contribute significantly to provide green cover for other species to grow.

At Timbaktu there is no discrimination between grasses, shrubs, plants, trees for fuel, trees or timber, exotic trees etc. The Collective believes in the principle of succession in nature. It has been observed and appreciated over the years. Unless due emphasis is given to local and indigenous plant, shrub and grass varieties, the soil will not be able to support growth of fruit trees or exotic varieties in the near future