Monumental trees, what are they?
A trip to Italy (we can wish) would show us, the importance of biodiversity! A national registry has been developed to identify ancient trees of about 22,000 specimens within Italy, protecting them “as immovable things that have remarkable characteristics of natural beauty.” This includes an 800-year-old cypress tree located in a northern Franciscan convent.
Has anyone been following a National Geographic trek called “Out of Eden Walk” beginning out of Ethiopia’s Rift Valley in 2013? Following the footstep of early migration to walk across the world, it is being described as a global record of human life - and climate change - and habitat. The journalist is Paul Salopek and so far he has walked 11,000 miles out of a 24,000 journey.
If inspired, walk the Tattapan Trail, an easy family walk off of Wilson Road in Fall River with interesting signage about the history of the area. Some of tree plantings were part of a CCC project. Explained as young unemployed men during the depression “the C’s” men of 'the C’s’ created camping areas and hiking trails in State and National Parks, built roads, fought forest fires, constructed dams, and planted 2.3 billion trees — half of the trees ever planted in the U.S. — all for $1 a day.
Earlier this year, President Biden proposed a modern day version of this effort with his Civilian Climate Corps proposal that would put thousands of young people to work addressing the threat of climate change and restoring public lands. This would help many a municipality support and maintain a healthy urban forest.
So it has inspired the FRSTPP to start planning TREE BENEFIT WALKS. Do you have a walk that you can recommend in Fall River? We will start off with Oak Grove Cemetery and North Park. We welcome suggestions.