Fellows Riverside Gardens presents interactive tree-themed exhibit

August 29, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

Exhibit points out threat to tree species

YOUNGSTOWN

Fellows Riverside Gardens might be most well-known for its rose collection, but the public garden is spotlighting something else it has to offer: trees.

“Vanishing Acts: Trees Under Threat,” an outdoor exhibit that focuses on the value of tree species – as well as their vulnerabilities – is on display at the gardens through Oct. 31.

“It’s to take a look at the importance of trees to our lives and to the world as a whole, and to recognize that they are threatened,” said Mandy Smith, horticulture education manager at Mill Creek MetroParks. “We can actually take steps to save trees in our local area by learning from these trees” that are threatened around the world.

Visitors who wish to participate in the interactive, self-guided exhibit can pick up discovery backpacks at the information desk in the D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens, 123 McKinley Ave. Guided tours also are available on selected dates in September and October. Admission is free.

Approximately 10 percent of known tree species are at risk of extinction; in the past 100 years, 77 tree species became extinct, according to the exhibit. It focuses on 15 tree species that today are threatened.

Strolling through the gardens on a warm, sunny afternoon this week, Smith highlighted those species, three of which the gardens have.

One of those on-site trees is the dawn redwood, a species thought to be extinct in the wild until the 1940s. Today, it exists as a landscape tree.

“They actually drop their needles in the fall, like our deciduous trees, which is a unique feature,” Smith said.

At another point in the Gardens, she gestured to a panel informing visitors about the Fraser fir.

“This one talks about a tree that is highly valued in America due to its use as a Christmas tree,” she said. “Pretty much most of the Fraser firs in their native range are gone.”

Another threatened species that exists at Fellows Riverside Gardens is the Franklin Tree, named by botanist John Bartram for his friend, Benjamin Franklin.

“This one is completely extinct in the wild,” Smith said. “The only place you can find them now are in gardens and arboretums.”

The exhibit also has panels about medicinal trees, which Smith says often are threatened by over-harvesting. Other threats to trees are climate change, parasites, insects, deforestation and other human activities. The exhibit aims to make people more aware of the ways they can mitigate those threats.

“Trees are awesome. They provide more than just shade and oxygen,” Smith said.

The exhibit was developed by the Morton Arboretum in Illinois in partnership with the Global Trees Campaign.

For information, visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org or call 330-740-7116.