Alabama's Moon Trees

In February 2019 a blog post at the Atlas Obscura site asked, "Whatever Happened to All the Moon Trees?" And the answer is....

First, let's examine what they were. Moon trees were planted from 500 seeds that spent nine days in space and orbited the moon 34 times on Apollo 14 in 1971. U.S. Forest Service biologists conducted the experiment to see if the seeds would germinate. A canister accident during decontamination after return might have meant disaster, but most of the seeds germinated. By 1976 the 420 seedlings obtained were being planted around the country. 

The trees included loblolly pines, sycamores, redwoods, sweetgums and Douglas firs. Seedlings were sent to state forestry organizations and elsewhere and most planted as part of U.S. bicentennial celebrations. One was planted on the White House Lawn; several were sent to other countries including Brazil, Japan and Switzerland. A list of those planted in the U.S. is here. 

Five were planted in Alabama. You can see photographs of three and more information about them below. A loblolly pine planted August 5 1976, at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama in Troy is listed at the NASA web site documenting living trees, but there is no photo. According to the list at Wikipedia, a loblolly pine  planted October 22, 1976, outside the G.W. Andrews Forestry Sciences Lab at Auburn University has not survived. 

Efforts have been made to document and preserve the trees and their legacy through the Moon Tree Foundation and by Dave Williams at NASA. The Foundation was established by the daughter of Stuart Roosa, the Apollo 14 astronaut responsible for the canister of seeds during the mission. 

You can read about other Alabama trees in Mildred M. Nelson's "Alabama Trees: Chiefly Legendary", Alabama Review April 1953, pp 121-134

This sycamore was planted at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on February 25, 1976

Source: NASA

Loblolly pine on the state capitol grounds in Montgomery
Planted in April 1976

Source: NASA

Loblolly pine planted October 19, 1976, at Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller in Tuscumbia.

Source: NASA

A seed from this tree was planted at Cypress Cove, a forest near Red Bay. The land is privately owned, but there are seven miles of trails maintained for public use. 

Source: Laura-Jean McCurdy, "Cypress Cove: A Place of History, Heritage, and Hope" Alabama's Treasured Forests 39(2): 4-6, spring 2020