A Piece of Pease
Capturing memories and protecting Central Texas' trees.
With the recent, unfortunate closure of Pease Elementary School, dwg. and TreeFolks have come together to orchestrate a substantial effort to collect acorns, germinate, and grow sapling trees from the playground’s historic tree.
The saplings produced through this effort will be adopted out to Pease’s final roster of students, alumni, parents, and staff and the participants of this program. As the program grows (literally and figuratively) additional saplings will be made available to donate to area parks and green spaces!
Students will no longer play under the massive heritage oak — known colloquially as The Cupcake Tree — a tree that has sheltered thousands of smiling faces over the years from the Texas sun, and created a unique experience for alumni of Pease Elementary to share.
Maybe there is a way for us to give them something more than memories to take away.
The Project:
In the first stage of this project, we are asking the public to collect live oak acorns from around Pease Elementary and send or deliver them to TreeFolks. We will germinate them and supply saplings sourced from The Cupcake Tree to Pease Alumni.
Through this project, we will not only be providing a physical reminder of the spirit of Pease, but we will also be investing in the future of younger generations.
The Impact:
As these saplings grow and mature, they will lower ambient air temperature up to 10 degrees, protect waterways from runoff and pollution, make our urban spaces quieter, and have an overall positive effect on human health and well-being.
Tree planting remains the most effective carbon capture technology and creates cooler cities, cleaner creeks, and quieter, safer streets.
Why collect seeds? Every tree starts as a seed, and every tree is
needed in our fight to reforest Central Texas.
Old trees in our urban forest are facing increasing pressure and need our help to survive. It is with great excitement that TreeFolks is partnering with dwg.
to announce a pilot program that seeks to propagate trees from some of Austin’s oldest and most significant trees. Our mission is to preserve and enhance
our native urban forest with trees that are genetically unique to this region.
Our first project will focus on one of Austin’s Grand Champion trees – The Cupcake Tree. Not only is this one of Austin’s largest Live Oaks,
it is also a tree that is symbolic of the oldest elementary school in Texas.
In Partnership With:
