The first trails in Haifa were created by the local ‘Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’ (SPNI) branch since 1986, in order to preserve nature while promoting hiking. Due to SPNI’s low budget for this area of ​​activity, most of the routes that were created were not maintained over the years, except for the paths in Lotem and Siah wadis. In 2011, SPNI allocated resources for rehabilitating hiking trails in the wadis and employed a full-time coordinator of wadis. In this activity SPNI recruited dozens of volunteers who began the rehabilitation of the seven trails that were breached and marked in urban nature by that time.

In 2014, a small group of travelers decided to help rehabilitate the abandoned hiking trails, and re-opened the tangled paths, while thoroughly cleaning solid waste that was dumped over decades from the residential area above the wadis. The group opened its doors to the general public using Facebook’s platform under the name ‘Carmelists’ in Hebrew, Arabic and English. The hiking trails were later connected to form a consecutive hiking trail, which was later named ‘Haifa Wadis Trail’. Since day one the Group has set clear objectives, and all its activities and management have been carried out with full transparency and with the participation of the general public in decision-making regarding the activities carried out in the public sphere. At the end of 2014, the group was registered as an non-profit civil organization in the Ministry of Justice under the name ‘Yarok Belev NGO’.

NGO Rules
NGO Documents
Carmelists Group on Facebook
Non-profit NGO number 580600476 at the Justice Ministry of Israel

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