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from the issue of November 8, 2007
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Time capsule, pine commemorate storm
UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Future generations may get the chance to dig up a jar of history - if a newly planted Bosnian pine is ever moved or dies.
| | PLANTING CEREMONY - A Bosnian pine, planted Nov. 1 to commemorate the Oct. 25, 1997 snow storm, stands next to a tree spade. A time capsule was placed in the ground with the tree. Photo by Emily Casper/Landscape Services.
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The tree was planted by Landscape Services during a Nov. 1 ceremony to commemorate the Oct. 25, 1997 snow storm that damaged 1,100 campus trees. Before the pine was moved into place, Eileen Bergt, director of Landscape Services, placed a time capsule at the base of the hole.
Inside the capsule - a glass jar - is the story of the pine written by Laurence Ballard, nursery supervisor for Landscape Services.
"The idea came from a couple of different places," Ballard said. "I heard a rumor that there was a tree planted on East Campus years and years ago and they did this same type of thing. That one was by a bunch of famous people, including J. Morton Sterling and Charles Bessey, in 1906."
Bergt also asked Landscape Services employees to talk about their storm experiences for the ceremony. Ballard - inspired by the request and the rumor - decided that the tree had a story to tell too.
"Every plant has a story behind it," Ballard said. "I thought this one should tell how it survived the storm as a small tree in our nursery. Tell what it went through and how it became one of our trees out on campus."
The 16-year-old Bosnian pine was planted south of C.Y. Thompson Library.
More than 50 attended the ceremony. Everyone in attendance signed Ballard's story.
This story, written by Laurence Ballard, nursery supervisor for Landscape Services, was signed by all who attended the Nov. 1 tree planting ceremony. It was rolled up and placed in a glass bottle time capsule that was placed in the planting hole of the pine.
The Bosnian Pine story of November 1, 2007
Hello future people, my name is Pinus heldreichii var. leucodermis or Pinus leucodermis for short. I am also known as a Bosnian pine. If you're reading this it's because I am no longer here, but this is the story of how I got here.
My family comes from southern Europe in the region of what is now called Bosnia. I was named by a Swiss botanist after a German botanist named Heldreich. About a year later another botanist discovered me again and named me after my white bark. My first home in the United States was in Eugene, Ore. I came to Nebraska in 1991.
I think the people that brought me to Nebraska like me because I can take harsh conditions and because I look good.
I have waited patiently for 16 years to make my campus debut. Today, I am being planted here behind C.Y. Thompson Library to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of a big snowstorm that hit this area on Oct. 25, 1997. Many of my fellow plants were badly damaged that night, but my closest relatives, the conifers did OK because we're used to heavy snow loads.
I survived that storm as a young tree, but it did create a slight bend in my trunk which I think just gave me more character.
GO TO: ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 8
NEWS HEADLINES FOR NOVEMBER 8
1997 blizzard remembered
Grant fuels dance, computer science collaboration
Narain offers E.N. Thompson Lecture Nov. 12
Space law expert accepts teaching post
Time capsule, pine commemorate storm
UNL rated 8th best place to work in academia
Groundwater declines slowed in Nebraska
Masters Week activities run to Nov. 10
Perlman, Kostelnik issue call for Combined Campaign giving
Regents to review $16M universitywide student information system request
UCARE grant helps fuel digital archiving project
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