6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JULY 23-29, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com 831 Fifty years ago, Monterey came out to witness the planting of a tree. Officials from the City of Monterey, U.S. Forest Service and others gathered in Friendly Plaza near Colton Hall on July 27, 1976 to help place a 2-foot-tall redwood seedling into the dirt. While most people have touched a tree before, not many at the time could say they touched a tree whose seed flew into space and orbited the moon. This is Monterey’s “moon tree,” grown from one of 2,000 or so seeds carried by astronaut Stuart Roosa as he orbited the moon in a command module during the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971. And now, five decades later, that once-fragile seedling towers over the plaza and an area as historic as itself. Since then, many who have passed through can say they have touched something that’s been out of this world, just like those few people all those years ago. Michele Ostovar is a Pacific Grove resident who works for the NASA History Office, and on the eve of the moon tree’s 50th anniversary, she’s been helping update NASA’s website that tracks where all the trees are today, and which ones have fallen to the sands of time. When the trees were being planted in the 1970s, there was no documentation listing where they went, and how cities in the U.S. and around the world were chosen to be their permanent home. As such, how Monterey got a seedling is mostly a mystery. A plaque at the bottom of the tree today notes it is “dedicated to the people of Monterey to commemorate the bicentennial of the United States of America and for the enjoyment of all future generations by the California Division of Forestry and the Society of American Foresters.” It wasn’t until the 1990s when NASA scientist David Williams got an inquiry from an Indiana teacher, asking for more information about the moon trees, which sparked an official list. Despite an incident during the decontamination procedures when the astronauts returned to Earth, when the seed bags burst and scattered on the ground, the seeds produced viable trees. Today, Ostovar says NASA knows of the locations of less than 100 trees that are still alive. There were five different species of seeds included in Roosa’s personal kit, and 150 of those were redwood. Twenty germinated at the U.S. Forest Service’s nursery in Placerville, but only 16 survived their first year. Now, there are only nine known redwoods in California, according to Ostovar. Second-generation trees from those moon travelers have also been planted throughout the world, with the most recently known seed planted in 2011 in Italy. The legacy of the moon trees continued with the 2022 Artemis I mission, where seeds traveled into lunar orbit and spent four weeks in space. Schools, museums and other organizations were invited to apply for a seed. Greenfield Union School District was one of the stewards approved, and its sequoia seedling was planted at Mary Chapa Academy in 2024. More seeds also recently returned home from the Artemis II mission, whose four-person crew were the first humans to fly around the moon in more than 50 years. That included pilot Victor Glover, who visited his alma mater, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, on June 16 to speak to a full audience at King Hall. Glover was the first person of color to travel out of lunar orbit and around the moon. “My younger self was not capable of envisioning all of this, so what I would tell my younger self is, it’s going to be OK because you’re going to put in the work and let him figure it out,” Glover says. “He figured it out and I would give him support more than I would give him advice to not change the outcome.” The packed room at NPS speaks to the amount of interest in Artemis II. Ostovar, who manages the NASA History social media channels, says viewership has spiked in recent months. “It was really exciting to see how much engagement we got from the general public,” she says. “It was a very special time.” Staff Writer Royvi Hernandez contributed to this article. Space Roots Monterey’s moon tree hits 50 and a new one grows in Greenfield, amid renewed interest in the natural satellite. By Erik Chalhoub NASA knows the locations of less than 100 trees. TALES FROM THE AREA CODE DANIEL DREIFUSS Michele Ostovar of Pacific Grove, who works for the NASA History Office, says the moon trees planted 50 years ago, including the one in Monterey, are some of the last living beings that flew around the moon during the Apollo era. Business is Better Together CONNECT. GROW. BELONG. Build meaningful connections, increase your visibility, and access the resources your business needs to thrive. Join the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce today! montereychamber.com • info@montereychamber.com • 831.648.5350 JOIN NOW
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