From Ground Zero to Las Vegas: Trees symbolizing resilience take root in the desert

Twenty‑five years after being uprooted and buried under debris from the 9/11 attacks, a Callery pear known as the Survivor Tree stands spindly at ground zero in New York City. More than 2,200 miles to the west, two of its offspring are adapting to the desert climate of Las Vegas. Bradley Daseler, an urban forester for the city of Las Vegas, remarked, “It’s not needfully considered a desert-adapted tree,” said Bradley Daseler, an municipality forester for the metropolis of Las Vegas. “It’s much of a New York-style tree. It wants a small spot cooler temperatures, a small spot much water. That’s erstwhile it’s going to execute astatine its best.” The National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s Seedling Program donates seedlings each year to communities affected by tragedy. Las Vegas was chosen in 2018 to honor the victims of the Oct. 1, 2017, Route 91 Harvest festival shooting, an event that claimed 60 lives. Daseler said he watched anxiously over the two saplings from the moment they arrived and were placed in a nursery until they were officially planted in 2021. He added, “It was nerve-wracking,” Daseler said. “We felt a batch of work and possibly a small spot of angst caring for them and knowing that they had that peculiar value wrapped astir them.” Five years later, the trees have grown and are thriving, according to Daseler. One specimen was installed at Police Memorial Park, situated near West Cheyenne Avenue and the 215 Beltway. The other was planted outside Las Vegas Fire Department Station 5, located at the intersection of West Charleston and South Valley View boulevards. At the base of the tree at the fire station, a plaque describes how the original Survivor Tree lay buried for roughly a month after the attacks before being uncovered in the wreckage. The inscription reads, “This histrion stands arsenic a surviving reminder of resilience, endurance and rebirth,” the plaque reads. Adjacent to the tree lies a fragment of steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center.