CAZENOVIA — On Saturday, June 12, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park (SQHAP) hosted “A Tree for Unity” in partnership the United-Climate Action Network (U-CAN) and the Oneida Indian Nation.
The event marked the completion of The 220 Trees Project, a two-year effort through which more than 50 volunteers planted 220 saplings at SQHAP.
The celebration featured a traditional thanksgiving greeting and a closing blessing by Clairese Patterson of the Oneida Indian Nation; remarks by SQHAP CEO Emily Zaengle, Oneida Indian Nation representatives Ron and Brian Patterson, and U-CAN Steering Committee member Phil Rose; a statement from U-CAN Tree Group Leader Laurie Feine-Dudley (read by Julie Poplaski); social dancing led by Chris Thomas of the Onondaga Nation; a musical performance by Rose; refreshments; and the ceremonial planting of a maple tree from Aspinall’s Tree Nursery & Landscaping, LLC.
According to the organizers, the goal of the event was to honor the ancestral land of the Oneida Indian Nation, the creative generosity of SQHAP, and the hard work of the U-CAN Tree Group and the other volunteers who made the tree project possible.
“It has taken a global crisis to bring us together, hasn’t it?” said Rose. “We are in trouble. This planet is in trouble, and we are coming together in order to do something about it. That is what I have loved about [this project]. People have stepped up and come forth to do something; it’s not like we are sitting around and complaining about it.”
The 220 Trees Project is the result of a partnership between SQHAP, U-CAN, the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation (CPF), and Professor Matthew Potteiger’s landscape architecture graduate students at SUNY ESF.
The idea for the project arose from the 2019 U-CAN Climate Action Leadership Summit, during which the organization’s tree group was formed.
“If you read all of the literature, one of the major solutions to [climate change] is trees — planting things and getting green things going, which absorbs the carbon and makes the planet less warm,” said Rose.
The members of the tree group are Feine-Dudley, Stephen Evans, Jason Grabosky, Alexis Ellis, Jack Stevens, Neal Parker, and Susan Light.
According to Feine-Dudley, the group hopes The 220 Trees Project will encourage visitors to plant their own trees, learn about climate change, and understand the concept of carbon sequestration and how trees help keep the planet healthy and inspire people everyday.
UCAN Steering Committee member Geoff Navias proposed the project idea to SQHAP and Feine-Dudley spearheaded the initiative.
The saplings were ordered in fall 2019, and Potteiger’s students were tasked with designing the tree layout to create an experiential installation that merges art and nature.
Once the pandemic hit, SQHAP visitation was restricted, and as a result, the project’s team of volunteers was unable to help plant the trees.
In late spring 2020, SQHAP Landscape Manager Eric Jerabek, Feine-Dudley and her husband, Kevin Dudley, planted the majority of the trees. Tree group member Jack Stevens and his sons put together and installed the blue protective tree tubes.
In April 2021, in celebration of Earth Day, additional trees were planted to complete the students’ design. Any trees that were damaged during the winter were also replaced.
Fifty volunteers, including individuals from Cazenovia College, U-CAN and other local groups, planted all of the trees in an hour and a half.
After the planting, a number of people helped care for the trees. For example, Jimmy Golub helped build a watering wagon, and Cazenovia College Associate Lecturer Chad Jaconski’s biology class mulched the planted area.
The installation can be seen in the lower field of the exit drive.
During the project’s initial design phase, Zaengle encouraged the ESF students to consider the question “When is a tree more than a tree?”
On June 12, she also asked the event attendees to look at the ceremonial maple tree in front of them and see it as more than just a tree.
“To do that, we must acknowledge the painful history of settler colonialism and the continued impact on indigenous people; we must acknowledge the climate crisis and its global and local impacts; we must acknowledge that we are still in a global pandemic; we must acknowledge all the work involved in stewarding this landscape, watering trees, caring for artwork; and we must acknowledge the donations and the support of so many in the community that allow the Art Park to do this work,” Zaengle said. “And then, we must allow this tree to carry us forward just as a tree, because it is truly amazing to watch something grow.”
To learn more about The 220 Trees Project, visit sqhap.org/happenings/the-220-trees-project.
SQHAP is located at 3883 Stone Quarry Rd., Cazenovia.
The United-Climate Action Network (U-CAN) is a grassroots organization that advocates environmentally sustainable policies in New York’s 22nd Congressional District and engages with businesses, schools, and other local community organizations to advance environmental literacy and sustainable practices. For more information, visit unitedclimateaction.org.
