East Coast Redwood Forest Coming To MetroTech Commons

A tiny Redwood forest will soon be planted in Downtown Brooklyn, bringing a scaled-down version of the historical west coast national park to the east coast.

The Public Art Fund and Forest City Ratner Companies are partnering up with artist Spencer Finch to recreate a 790-acre section of California’s Redwood National Park at MetroTech Commons this fall. The exhibit, “Spencer Finch: Lost Man Creek,” will be open on October 1.

The installation will feature about 4,000 living Dawn Redwoods standing at about one to four feet tall. The trees can grow anywhere between 98 to 380 feet tall making them known as the tallest trees in the world.

Visitors will be able to see the miniature forest from an elevated viewing platform on one side of the MetroTech Commons eastern triangular lawn, of which the installation will take up 4,500 square feet. It can also be viewed at ground level.

“In a world where climate change is at the core of societal debates, Finch’s installation in the heart of one of the most urbanized neighborhoods of the city presents us with the universal reality of nature’s power to awe and inspire, and the importance to remember and protect such wonders,” Associate Curator Emma Enderby said in a statement.

The maintenance of the trees will include special planting and irrigation to make sure the trees survive far from their native soil.

Finch worked with the Save the Redwoods League to chart out the lay of the land that he is attempting to recreate, which is currently protected and inaccessible, according to DNAInfo.

The trees will be moved when the exhibit closes, but it isn’t clear where they will be taken.

The free exhibit will be open until March 11, 2018.