Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Moon Tree (2nd generation) - Cave Junction, OR - Moon Trees on Waymarking.com

Located at the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum just south of Cave Junction are a number of historic buildings that were part of the smokejumper base used from 1943 to 1981. This was the firefighter base that Stuart Roosa worked at during the summers before going on to become Air Force pilot and later part of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. Behind a Civilian Conservation Corps building is a moon tree, the third tree to be planted here at the smokejumper base. The following verbiage is taken from the Highway199.org website to describe the history of the moon trees here:

The space ship Roosa was in circled the moon 34 times before returning to earth where the seeds were planted as part of an experiment. The trees were given away in 1976 to celebrate the centennial of the nation and four of these trees are known to be planted in Oregon and many others planted in other parts of the nation and world. One of these was planted at the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base in 1976 but died about eight years later. A local member of the Garden Club was able to successfully graft a cutting from one of the surviving original moon trees in Roseburg and this sapling was replanted at the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base in 2012 behind the historic administration building in the same location as the original.

The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base and the smokejumping experiences that inspired Roosa to carry tree seeds to the moon is why many consider the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base to be the home of the moon trees. The Apollo 14 Moon Trees may someday be the only living legacy of America’s missions to the moon during the Apollo space program.

The above verbiage doesn't mention that there was a second moon tree planted at this smokejumper base in 1985 which also died. The second tree is mentioned on the NASA webpage devoted to this Smokejumper Moon Tree. That makes this moon tree offspring the THIRD moon tree to be planted here at the museum.

An interpretive display next to this moon tree tells us:

Siskiyou Smokejumper Moon Tree

Stuart Roosa worked as a firefighter at Oregon's Siskiyou Smokejumper Base before becoming an Air Force fighter pilot and, in 1971, the command module pilot of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon.

He carried tree seeds with him to the moon and these were planted after returning to earth. The trees that grew from the seeds became known as moon trees.

Moon trees and the astronauts of the Apollo missions are the only living things on earth to have been to the moon. The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base is considered to be the place where the moon tree story began.

I also waymarked the Roseburg, Oregon Moon Tree and you may visit it here.

Type of Tree: Douglas Fir

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