In collaboration with the Arbor Day Foundation, Sony will plant a tree in three deforested areas across the US every time a specific Trophy in Horizon Forbidden West is unlocked. It's called the Play and Plant program, and will help the reforestation efforts at the Douglas County Forest in Wisconsin, the Sheep Fire Private Lands located in California, and the Torreya State Park of Florida. The Arbor Day Foundation is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, having planted "nearly 500 million trees" in nearly 50 countries.

The Trophy you're looking to unlock is named "Reached the Daunt", which is yours roughly 90 minutes into the game and is part of the main story. As such, it's very easy to unlock this Trophy and contribute to the reforestation efforts — nothing else is required of you in order to plant the tree. It's estimated 288,000 trees will be needed to repopulate the parks, with the offer open until 25th March 2022. Due to the sales potential of Horizon Forbidden West, it's very likely the estimate will be hit with ease.

So much more information on the Play and Plant program can be found over on the official website, but the page explains why the three deforested areas have been chosen in particular. For example, the Douglas County Forest was picked because "surrounding communities and animal habitats are at risk as previous deforestation has destabilized the forest’s natural watershed protection abilities".

As for the Sheer Fire Private Lands, "grey wolves have recently returned to the region after being hunted to near extinction 100 years ago. These large predators rely on vast landscapes with healthy internal ecosystems, like forests, to thrive, and planting trees helps accelerate the return of their native environment."

Finally, Torreya State Park is included because the longleaf pine tree has suffered a sharp decline in population across the southeast of the US due to deforestation and natural disasters. "Ecosystems like this one are well-known for containing an incredible amount of diversity in plant and wildlife species, many of which are not able to survive outside of this habitat. Through a dedicated tree planting effort, landowners affiliated with this project will be able to help restore and manage critical habitat areas where rare wildlife species such as the gopher tortoise and red-cockaded woodpecker can thrive."

Over on the official page, you can also sign the Play4Forests petition. This is a joint effort from the gaming industry and UNEP that "aims to raise awareness about the importance of forests for our health and climate. It is aimed to stir world leaders to take decisive action on forest protection and restoration."

Our mission is to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Our vision is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival by relentlessly delivering value.

[source youtube.com]