Moon rock? No, a 'moon tree'

FINDLAY — A little piece of space exploration history is planted on the Liberty-Benton High School grounds. It's not a moon rock, no – it's a 4-foot tall, 17-month-old American sycamore tree. The history of these "moon trees" began in 1971 when Apollo 14 launched, carrying astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa to the moon, according to the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Roosa brought with him several hundred tree seeds from five different types of trees: loblolly pine, sycamore, sweetgum, redwood and Douglas fir. After returning to Earth, the seeds were germinated and the saplings were planted at various parks, schools, forestry centers and other government buildings across the United States. Fifty years later, a new generation of moon trees was created when NASA launched Artemis I in 2022, carrying sycamore, sweetgum, Douglas fir, loblolly pine and giant sequoia seeds around the surface of the moon. There are currently less than 50 moon trees distributed across the U.S. "This particular moon tree, as a seed, spent 25 days in space," said Dillon Webster, Liberty-Benton High School science teacher. "It took nine days to get to the moon, orbited for nine days, and then a nine day return and splashed down in December." Webster, some of his students, High School Principal Ben Gerken and Associate Professor of Biology and Director of Natural Areas and Plant Collections Ben Dolan from the University of Findlay planted the American sycamore sapling on April 25. "There were five species that were selected from the five regions of the United States where these could grow. So when we applied, you (could) only apply for the species that is native to your range," Webster explained. The American sycamore tree is a fast-growing, hardy variety of tree found across the eastern United States, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. "By planting native and conserving native species we are allowing our local ecology to flourish," Webster said. "Trees do so much in sequestering carbon. They take carbon dioxide out of the air, they use it to grow … It helps to filter our water and maintain our water levels." American sycamores can reach heights of 120 feet. "It's one of the largest, if not the largest species of tree on this side of the Mississippi," he said. "We can see some sycamores that are 200 to 250 years old where the diameter of breast height, where you measure the trunk, is eight or nine feet across. It's humongous." Webster chose to plant the tree on the east side of campus to make sure the tree has adequate room to grow. "It's gonna be this huge presence sitting right there in (the) field," he said. "It's away from utilities. There's a lot of development that you see going on on the campus. (That) was like the only area that shouldn't be touched in a while." Webster and his students will measure the tree's height every growth period. "We'll measure it in its dormant stage before the leaves come out. Then we'll measure it right before it goes back into dormancy to see how much it did grow," he explained. "That's when the outside growth's done and now the roots are doing all the work." Receiving the moon tree is like "winning the lottery," the teacher said. "This is the start of another space race," Webster said. "For L-B to be a part of that, or to have a piece of an artifact from that, from this era, is so cool."