The Living Memorials Project
The Living Memorials Project cataloged over 700 sites across the United States where trees, gardens, or forests were planted or restored to commemorate the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.
Daffodils bloom in front of the New York City skyline at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition Memorial Garden.
The United States Congress asked the USDA Forest Service to create the Living Memorials Project to identify sites where the tragic losses of September 11, 2001 (9-11) are honored and remembered. This project recognizes the power of trees to bring people together and create lasting memorials for the victims of terrorism, their families, communities, and the nation.
Natural resources are used to revitalize more than just our city streets and towns. Nature helps heal the spirit and to reconnect us to life. After September 11th, many people found solace in nature: walking through parks, sitting in gardens, or looking out over the water. Some held candlelight vigils and brought flowers to homes, firehouses and rescue stations. As seasons change, many of us come up with new volunteer greening projects to inspire hope, strength, and peace in our communities.
Planting ‘living memorials’ is a long-standing tradition. For centuries, people have used nature to symbolize and mark the cycles of life. The Living Memorials Project builds on community actions after 9-11, connecting these shared expressions of hope.
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Background Information and History
Between 2002–2004, cost-share grants from the USDA Forest Service’s Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry supported community projects in the New York City area, southwest Pennsylvania, and the Washington, D.C. area. In the southern region of the U.S., the Forest Service collaborated with officials from the Pentagon, American Forests, and Arlington County to develop additional memorial sites.
In 2006, the public multimedia exhibition “Land-Markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials” was displayed at the National Park Service’s Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street, attracting about 200 visitors per day for 3 weeks. The exhibit honored the fifth anniversary of the tragedy and was part of the curriculum of 500 first-year students at Parsons “The New School for Design.” It also traveled to Forest Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C. in April 2007 and was part of the September 11 display at the Connecticut Historical Society in September 2007. The exhibit catalog and DVD are now available for free public use, and the videos can be viewed online.
From 2002 to 2004, USDA Forest Service social scientists conducted a social and site assessment of the public spaces created, used, or enhanced in memory of the 9-11 tragedies. Researchers created a National Registry, an online inventory of hundreds of community-based living memorial sites. Memorials are shown on a national map. Research findings related to the Living Memorials Project are available on this site. This project won the 2007 EDRA/Places Award for Research and was also recognized on September 11, 2007 by "Voices of September 11th" for "Preserving 9/11."
In 2016, social scientists revisited a sample of living memorial sites and developed additional research on longer term resilience and recovery. Social scientists at the USDA Forest Service’s New York City Urban Field Station continue to study how green spaces support individual and community resilience through the “Landscapes of Resilience” project in Joplin, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan. This work and other cases of community stewardship following disturbance or disaster from around the country was gathered in Green Readiness, Response, and Recovery: A Collaborative Synthesis, a Forest Service report published in 2019.
Northern Research Station social scientists have published a number of research articles and reports connected to the Living Memorials Project. The foundational document for the project is Land-markings: 12 Journeys through 9/11 Living Memorials. There is an associated video of the same name.
A curated list of research publications can be found on the "Resources" tab. Additional publications can be found by searching for “Living Memorials” in Treesearch.
This page is designed to be a resource for information about living memorials. It combines expertise from the Forest Service and consultants in landscape design, placemaking, ethnobotany, urban and community forestry, and social science.
The following are considerations for planning and designing Living Memorials. Each Living Memorial site is unique and each visitor will bring an individual perception, ability and need. We are creating opportunities for remembering and honoring those who have been lost; minimizing feelings of isolation and loneliness; for release and closure; and enhancing a sense of self and community. These concepts are connected to the unique qualities of each site and participant.
The process requires you to think broadly along the following four lines:
- The site: Where will the Living Memorial be located?
- The participants: Who will be using it?
- The goals and program: What do you want to accomplish and how will that be done?
- The budget: What funds do you have to work with?
An important aspect of creating a living memorial is selecting meaningful plants. Explore the Vibrant Cities Lab website for resources on how to select appropriate trees for your needs as well as tips for planning planting projects.
The Healing Trees Project by Anne Wiesen focuses on the power of trees to mirror human emotions, with particular attention to five symbolic trees. These five trees are examples of the many symbolic meanings different trees can have for us:
1. Willow for Remembrance
The willow is a tall, deciduous tree, growing 30-80 feet tall, with a 20-35 foot spread of graceful arching branches. The downward arching form of the weeping willow (Salix babylonica) is the most dramatic weeping form. The downward habit of the branches gives the willow tree an association with the more gentle and inward aspect of human emotions. In bringing our attention inward, the Trees of Remembrance remind us that grieving is a powerful attribute of the human species, and a vital step in the individual and collective healing processes.
2. Dawn Redwood for Renewal
The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is a deciduous conifer, with soft needle-like leaves that are bright green in Spring, brilliant orange/red in Fall, and are shed in the cold season of Winter. This tree was discovered through 30-50 year old fossils uncovered in the early 1940's in Japan. Thought to have been extinct, living specimens of the Dawn Redwood were discovered in central China soon after the fossils were uncovered. The Dawn Redwood was chosen, in part, because of the story of its remarkable recovery, and the equally remarkable welcome the tree receives from those who know its story
3. Pine for Resilience
Pines are uniquely flexible and can adapt to extreme climate conditions. Pines are evergreens and hold onto their leaves (needles) throughout the cold or dormant season. Withstanding extreme cold, heat (in some cases, fire), drought, and ocean salt spray, pines are arguably the most wide-ranging and successful genus of trees on the (North American) continent, rivaled by the oaks in their ability to grow in a diversity of climates.
In a horticultural context, resilience is a measurement of a plant's ability to tolerate conditions of adversity and return to a healthful state. Demonstrating resilience through challenging climatic circumstances, pine trees remind us of our own ability to "weather climatic shifts" and to continue to work to secure the well-being of future generations during difficult times.
4. Elm for Respect and Care
The American Elm (Ulmus americana) was once the street tree of choice in the United States. Elms are also highly prized by Native Americans for their medicinal and healing properties. In the 1930s, Dutch elm disease arrived from the Netherlands in the midwestern United States, and subsequently destroyed one-half to two-thirds of the American Elm tree population in the northeastern United States. The American Elm is at once majestic and vulnerable. Our great respect for this tree initiated a care-taking program when Dutch elm disease struck. This program of care and nurturing has returned the elm to health by identifying and cross breeding highly resistant progeny, including 'Liberty', 'Princeton', 'Valley Forge' and 'New Harmony' cultivars.
5. Birch for Reflection
Birches are cold-climate plants, among the first to populate soils uncovered by glacial retreat. Birches are hearty (and elegant) pioneers of new territory, preparing the way for longer-lived hardwood species to create deep forests. The white birch's trunk and silvery green leaves endow the tree with a surprising ability to move light in many ways. This tree can also be thought of as an ecological beacon, reflecting the longer-lived hardwood forests that will follow.
The National Registry shares information about 9/11 memorial projects across the United States and a few international locations. This information is a resource for individuals, communities, government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations.
Project Leads
Collaborators
Leads
- Erika Svendsen – (retired )Northern Research Station - USDA Forest Service
- Matt Arnn - Eastern Region, State, Private, and Tribal Forestry - USDA Forest Service
Forest Service Team
- Lindsay Campbell - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
- David Bloniarz - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
- Bob Fitzhenry - Eastern Region, State, Private, and Tribal Forestry - USDA Forest Service
- Morgan Grove – (retired) - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
- Robin Morgan - (retired) - Eastern Region, State, Private, and Tribal Forestry - USDA Forest Service
- Heather McMillen - (formerly Northern Research Station) - USDA Forest Service
- Phillip Rodbell – (retired) Eastern Region, State, Private, and Tribal Forestry - USDA Forest Service
- Mark Twery- (retired) - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Collaborators
- Cliff Chanin, Legacy Project
- Phu Duong, Approach
- Theo Eisenman, UMass-Amherst
- David Kamp, Dirtworks
- Christy Knight Speilman, OASIS
- Brian McGrath, The New School
- Anne Wiesen, Meristem
- Andy Wiley-Schwartz, Project for Public Spaces
- Joel Towers, The New School
- Steve Romalewski, OASIS