This spring, the League helped plant moon-orbiting giant sequoias
Trees don’t typically do a whole lot of traveling. You might even say they spend their entire lives rooted to the exact same spot. But earlier this spring, Save the Redwoods League was on hand to help plant a dozen giant sequoia seedlings that are more well-traveled than pretty much anyone who’s ever lived—except maybe a couple dozen astronauts.
That’s because when they were just tiny seeds, these baby trees spent weeks in space and even orbited the moon—238,900 miles away—before returning to Earth.
The seeds were part of NASA’s 2022 Artemis 1 mission, the agency’s first return to lunar exploration since the Apollo program was shut down in the 1970s. That was also the last time tree seeds had orbited the moon, after astronaut Stuart Roosa, part of the 1971 Apollo 14 mission, brought along a collection of seeds that orbited the moon with him. After being quarantined, the seeds were planted across the country.
Five decades later, giant sequoia seeds for the Artemis mission were collected from the McKinley Grove in Sierra National Forest, then loaded aboard the Orion spacecraft along with seeds from four other tree species selected to mirror the varied geography of the United States. In total, 1,000 seeds were carted into space, where they traveled an astonishing 1.3 million miles in their journey around the moon.
Upon their return, the seeds were examined by scientists with the U.S. Forest Service to see if variations in gravity and temperature had altered them at all (spoiler alert: nope). They were then germinated and grown into seedlings until they were ready to pass along to organizations across the country chosen by NASA to act as stewards of the little trees (mostly educational institutions like grade schools and universities). To this point, some 230 moon trees have been planted nationwide where they will grow big and strong and provide inspiration for future generations.
Just as the Apollo moonshot inspired can-do approaches to scientific and technological advancements that have benefited millions of people, it’s that same audacious, big-thinking mindset the League is tapping into today to restore the redwood range across the North Coast and the Sierra Nevada.
In April, members of the League helped with two plantings of giant sequoia moon tree seedlings in Sequoia National Forest at Indian Grove and Long Meadow Grove. There the trees will grow for centuries under the watchful eye of the moon they once orbited.
