Valley Stream celebrates Arbor Day 2020

Valley Stream celebrated Arbor Day on April 24 a bit differently this year. Amid the coronvirus pandemic that had prevented the gathering of large groups of people, the village held a small presentation and celebration outside the Engine Company No. 3 firehouse on Cochran Place, where a descendent of the storied Survivor Tree is planted.

There, village horticulturist Eugene Boening hosted a symposium with Mayor Ed Fare and village officials, and explained to a small group of interested neighbors the significance of the tree, which was grown from seedlings gathered from an ornamental Callery pear tree originally planted in downtown Manhattan, near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The aptly named Survivor Tree was discovered amid the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center towers, badly damaged with snapped roots and broken branches, and relocated to the Bronx, where it was not expected to survive.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation staff spent several years working to rehabilitate the tree, and in 2010 it was replanted as part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum built on the site of ground zero.

As the pear tree slowly recovered, scientists from the Bartlett Tree Experts of Stamford, Conn., collected its seeds, propagating 450 of its descendents as a symbol of perseverance after tragedy.

Saplings grown from the seeds now reside at the John Bowne Agricultural High School in Flushing, Queens, where they continue to grow. Since 2013, upon the establishment of the Survivor Tree Seedling Program, the saplings have been moved to various communities affected by the attacks.

The Survivor Tree descendent has grown outside Company No. 3’s firehouse since 2015. It is dedicated to Fire Lt. Peter Martin, a former member of the company, who as a member of the FDNY Rescue 2 Company from the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn was one of the 343 firefighters killed after rushing to the scene of the attacks.

Martin and number of other Valley Streamers were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks — either as first responders or workers at the World Trade Center — and as a result the neighborhood received three of the saplings in their honor. The other two are growing in Hendrickson Park.

“All trees, but especially this tree,” Boening said, “stand as a living reminder of resilience, survival and rebirth.”