March 21, 2000— Imagine a park in a new community that has meditation benches with small desk supports for writing or laptops — surrounded by an Edgar Allen Poe hackberrry tree, a red maple from the Walden Woods that Thoreau immortalized and a bur oak from the cave entrance that Mark Twain wrote about so often.

Or, see in your mind a gazebo for live, summertime evening musical performances in a new community development, surrounded and shaded by a Louis Armstrong live oak, a dogwood tree from the home of Loretta Lynn and a sweetgum grown from seed from its parent tree at Elvis' Graceland Mansion.

The result: instant history, instant identity for a new community of homes no older than a few years — plus the opportunity to promote the role of trees in making such communities livable, desirable places. That's part of the idea behind the Millennium Grove Project, a campaign through which the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will establish groves of historic trees in each of the 50 states.

So far, twenty-three states have accepted the offer of famous and historic trees to be planted, ideally in groves. The project is a joint venture of the White House Millennium Council led by the USDA in cooperation with other groups and agencies. State governors can choose up to five species of trees according to historical or cultural significance and their suitability for growth in the various growing zones across the country.

"I met the relatives of these people, and they were handing out trees. I was actually able to get part of the last tree that was planted by Johnny Appleseed. I have a seedling of it that I'm going to put in my backyard. That is very cool."
— Jeff Lee, ASLA, Lee & Lui Associates  

The project aims to plant 100 historic trees in the states that will serve as examples of the stewardship and care of trees for future generations. The famous and historic trees are a gift to the states from the USDA as part of a larger project known as 2000 Millennium Green, according to the ASLA. The Millennium Green campaign is seeking to promote the creation of livable communities for the 21st century.

The trees being planted "are propagated from historic trees," explains Susan Mockenhaupt, national coordinator, Urban and Community Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, which is within the USDA. "Each tree is a direct offspring from the original." To grow the offspring, seeds and cuttings are taken from these original historic trees and propagated in a nursery operated by the American Forests, a nonprofit group dedicated to the nation's forests.

Writers' and musicians' trees are just a fraction of the inventory. The bulk of the trees are history-related, such as trees from famous battlegrounds of the Civil War, from the homes of U.S. presidents and those associated with famous representatives of minority groups, such as African Americans and Native Americans. Landscape architects are pitching in as part of the ASLA's efforts to enhance people's understanding of what people in their profession do, as planners who help make livable communities.

The project presents an exciting opportunity to work with unique plants that goes beyond the vocational and political issues involved, according to Denise Thompson, ASLA public relations manager. Throughout the project, the groups involved will work to heighten the public's awareness of the importance of trees and forests in livable communities. As the sprawl of development across the country continues to consume open space and forests, the groves are intended as part of a major push to make communities more livable. Landscape architects, through the ASLA, will create plans in each state for that state's grove. They are doing this work pro bono.

Other partners in the Millennium Grove project include the Alliance for Community Trees, American Forest Foundation, America the Beautiful Fund, National Association of Conservation Districts, National Association of State Foresters, National Tree Trust and the Society of American Foresters.
Jeff Lee, president of Lee and Associates, a Washington, DC-based landscape architecture firm, is one of the landscape architects who has gotten involved in Millennium Grove. One of the perks of his pro bono contribution to the effort in Washington, he says, was even more personal than just the satisfaction of creating an aesthetically satisfying and historically significant place.

"The things that impressed me most was that I got to meet the descendants of Chief Joseph, Johnny Appleseed, Frederick Douglass and Andrew Jackson," says Lee. "That's another way to make a connection to the past."

"I met the relatives of these people, and they were handing out trees," he adds. "I was actually able to get part of the last tree that was planted by Johnny Appleseed. I have a seedling of it that I'm going to put in my backyard. That is very cool."