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2000 Copy Limited Edition. Ever since Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother started making regular visits to villagers, officials, soldiers and policemen in the Thai border areas in 1966, the scenery which unfurled below her helicopter showed barren hills strewn with shifting crops, weeds and opium poppies. From her visits, she learned of the wretched life of the villagers who had to earn a living through unsuitable methods such as slash and burn cultivation. Whence came her vision and "I shall reforest Doi Tung" - reforest, and in the process improve the quality of life of the local people, provide them with education and health services, the means of a regular income, and an awareness of the need to preserve the environment. Acting on this royal vision, the government under Prime Minister Gen Prem Tinsulanonda set up the Doi Tung Development Project in 1988 as a joint undertaking between seven ministries. The Mae Fah Luang Foundation acted as coordinator between the public and private sectors, and HRH the Princess Mother actually took up residence there to help replant the forest. Ten years on, Doi Tung is lush with watershed and commercially viable forests and its botanical gardens are second to none in the region. Planting the seeds of awareness and responsibility in the people to help reforest Doi Tung and improve the environment has achieved the goals the Princess Mother had set herself. Doi Tung has become one of the leading tourist destinations in Thailand as well.