Taking the example of a community in Tigray, this paper examined some of the reasons why social forestry projects under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture in northern Ethiopia had been so successful. People had a tradition of community work and decision-making. They quickly adopted tree-planting as their own project and tailored activities to their collective needs. By first starting small and focusing on known species, people were given the confidence also to tackle larger-scale planting for soil and water conservation purposes.