Captain of the LongTrees Society Parkallen, Marlene Wurfel planting by the light of the harvest moon, October 6, 2025
what are longtrees?
Trees planted with the hope that they’ll live for 1000 years.
why longtrees?
Planting trees is sending love letters to the future. Planting trees that could live 1000 years is writing loooooooooooooong love letters.
Stewarding trees across multiple generations is a challenging goal. It starts with propogation, but we also need communication, culture, community, and connection to people in the future who aren’t going to be born for 36 more generations. It’s hard to imagine what life will be like in 1000 years. Do we care about people so far away from us in time? Planting longtrees is one way to say, “Yes, we care about the future.” Saying so might benefit us in unexpected ways in the present. There is only one way to find out.
october 6 2025…
Parkallen is establishing two longtrees nurseries with support of the Longtrees Society Edmonton. Fifty Bristlecone Pine seeds were planted in the Parkallen Community Garden longtree nursery by the light of the harvest moon.
april 25 2026…
50 more Bristlecone Pine seeds were planted at the 2nd Annual Parkallen Sustainability Fair.
how can you help?
Every tree that we successfully propogate in our nurseries will need a tree steward to take care of it, and who will pass the duty on to someone in the future, who will pass on the duty to someone else in the future, and so on. Are you up for that task? Let us know. The Parkallen longtrees will be ready to leave the nurseries and transplant in (approximately) 2035.
Volunteers seeding our longtrees nursery (yes, it is a box of soil on the ground) with bristlecone pines, October 2025.
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Learn more about the Longtrees Society Edmonton
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Not your average tree, Bristlecone Pines are slow-growing, long-living survivors.
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