There may be one less “Moon Tree,” like the one in Waycross at the Okefenokee Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), alive in Georgia after plans for a new Clarke County court facility recently were revealed.
The historic loblolly pine, which is more than 50 years old, is facing potential removal or destruction due to plans to build a new $225 million courthouse at 120 West Dougherty Street in Athens. The current design for the new government facility requires lowering the ground grade by seven to eight feet, making it unlikely the tree can survive in place.
The “Moon Trees” in Athens, Waycross, and a third in Macon at the Georgia Forestry Center, are among fewer than 70 of the original group planted nationwide from seedlings that orbited the moon in 1971 on Apollo 14. Each seedling was planted in the mid-1970s coinciding with the nation’s 200th birthday.
The tree in Athens grows next to what currently is the Athens Clark County Planning Department. It was planted 50 years ago by the Sertoma Club when the building was the county library.
Local architects, university preservationists, and community advocates are pushing project planners to alter the site design to save the tree.
If the tree cannot be saved, officials are discussing alternative preservation methods, such as taking cuttings to clone the tree, collecting seeds, or propagating offspring.
The trees have grown from the more than 500 seedlings Apollo 14 Astronaut Stuart Roosa, who flew the command module and orbited the moon while colleagues Ed Mitchell and Al Shepard landed on its surface. Commander Shepard had gained fame and fortune as America’s first astronaut in 1961.
Roosa, a native of Durango, Colo., worked for the Forest Service in the early 1950s as a smoke jumper fighting fires before joining the Air Force where he became a test pilot. He was one of 19 people selected for the astronaut class of 1966 and was part of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 9.
When chosen to pilot the command module for Apollo 14, Roosa decided to include seedlings for loblolly pines, redwoods, sycamores, sweet gums, Douglas Firs among his personal items for the tribute to his forestry background.
Each of the trees in Georgia was planted in 1976. The local tree was initially on the site of the Okefenokee Science Center before RESA moved to the property at 1450 N Augusta Avenue.
Scientist Donald Berryhill planted the loblolly pine on the site. It was dedicated May 20, 2019 with Rosemary Roosa, the daughter of the late Col. Roosa, taking part on the ceremony.
A plaque was placed alongside the tree during the ceremony to detail its significance and history.
Rosemary Roosa is president of the Moon Tree Foundation. The organization’s motto is “Planting the Seeds of Inspiration.”
Moon trees do indeed continue to inspire. In 2024, two years before their lunar odyssey last spring, the four astronauts of Artemis II planted on Capitol Hill in Washington a tree grown from a seed carried to lunar orbit aboard an unmanned spacecraft in 2022.
After flying on Apollo 14, Col. Roosa served as backup command module pilot for Apollo 16 and 17. He then worked on the Space Shuttle program until his retirement from the Air Force in 1976. He died in December 1994.
NASA has an extensive history on the “Moon Trees.” It can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/his tory/moon-trees/
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