You’re Invited to the Moon Tree Dedication

Arbor Day — April 29, 2011 — will be a memorable occasion in Coudersport. Members of the Coudersport Area Lions Club are partnering with Coudersport Borough, the Potter County Board of Commissioners, the Pa. Bureau of Forestry and others for a dedication ceremony that will bring long-overdue attention to the “Moon Tree” at Coudersport Area Recreation Park. Grown from a seed that flew to the moon some 40 years ago, the tree is alive and well. It all dates back to Jan. 31, 1971, when Apollo 14 blasted off. Astronaut Stuart Roosa brought along a canister of seeds to determine if weightlessness would cause them to grow differently. These seeds were later germinated, analyzed, and given out to dozens of communities in 1976 during the country’s bicentennial celebration. NASA is now inventorying and studying the “moon trees.”

Potter County’s specimen, one of the few that have been located by NASA, was teetering on the brink when it was resuscitated by Carol Patterson, who operated a tree nursery near Colesburg. Under her care, the seedling took root and was eventually healthy enough to be transplanted. With little fanfare, it was placed at CARP, where it has remained virtually unnoticed for upwards of a quarter-century. Potter County’s sycamore stands about 35 feet tall, a stone’s throw from the Allegheny River.

Please join us at 1 pm Friday, April 29, at CARP to dedicate the moon tree on the 40th anniversary of its return from space!