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A tree can tell us as much about our past as does a time capsule.
During civic celebrations, many Hoosiers collect the treasures of their families, towns and schools and set them aside for the future in time capsules.
They know that in the future people will want to know something about the past.
It will be like that at the new State Museum, rising like the sun from the canal bank in White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis. It is set to open in the summer of 2002.
We Hoosiers are proud of our heritage. The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites have been a cherished part of the DNR for more than 30 years. Part of the heritage are the relationships that we develop with our friends and neighbors, work partners, community and even the ancestors in our organizations.
DNR staff in all our divisions prepare for the future by placing high value on the past --- our buildings, our memories, our programs and the staff who shaped all those todays we string together to make our careers.
Our folks in the field have warm friendships with their colleagues across many division lines such as parks, reservoirs, historic sites and fish and wildlife areas, state forests, law enforcement, engineering and nature preserves, accounting and the budget office.
And the roots of the friendships are as deep in our agency as they are for a tree in any prairie or forest.
Back to those trees ---
American Forests, a national non-profit organization in Washington D.C. that is a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration, offered historic trees to each governor in the United States and territories. Indiana's urban forestry community volunteers have decided to plant 60 of these trees (3-4 ft. saplings) at Ft. Harrison State Park as the Millennium Grove.
The grove will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. May 15th at Fort Harrison State Park. The trees will be planted at 8 a.m. by the Indiana Community Tree Stewards and Teen Tree Stewards. You are invited to the events.
The grove will be dedicated to Governor Frank O'Bannon and First Lady Judy O'Bannon, who have demonstrated their passion for trees and all their values across Indiana.
The Millennium Grove trees come from properties or work places of people who have national historic significance, such as the George Washington tulip poplar, the Johnny Appleseed apple and the Martin Luther King Jr. sycamore.
Supporters of urban forestry and the tree stewards will volunteer their time to maintain the grove.
The trees will be time capsules of what we cherished in Indiana, given in honor of national heroes and dedicated to people who honor the earth.
A four-foot sapling planted in Indianapolis may one day have enough insects crawling around to support a pilleated woodpecker's lunch, or a really tall one may become a great blue heron's nest. If you are here to see those trees, remember that planting them was like building a museum.
They carry our memories, our values and our futures.
