In the fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a decades-long effort has begun to breathe life back into the trees commemorating those who died on Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. The crescent of 40 groves was initially planted between 2012 and 2016 to commemorate the 40 passengers and crew killed, with some 2,000 native deciduous trees installed over that time. But the trees faltered, and about 700 dead or unhealthy ones were removed last year. James Mealey, a landscape architect with the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, on Thursday said it could take 40 years to restore the groves.
"Obviously, that won't mean that we're planting the last trees in 40 years, but that's sort of how long it takes to establish a landscape of this scale and this complexity," he said. Replanting will occur over the next one to two decades; some other tree species, like swamp white oak and Kentucky coffeetree, are being tested at one location now, and new topsoil has been brought in, reports the Tribune Democrat. Mealey described myriad issues that impacted the health of the original trees, including poor soil quality, not enough irrigation, rough winters, and the selection of tree species that didn't do well in conditions at the reclaimed coal strip mine, reports the AP.
The National Park Service said last April that it had spent five years working with the Olmsted Center and consulting with experts from Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry on the "soil inadequacies" that had resulted from years of surface mining among other factors. They created a 10-year remediation plan to improve the health of the soil. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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