Sapling Of The Iconic 9/11 Survivor Tree Planted At Asser-Levy Park Memorial

A small sapling, barely more than a twig, now stands in Asser-Levy Park surrounded by aged oaks and venerable maples. It will one day grow to be a leafy adult callery pear tree – but to many it’ll remain known as the Survivor Tree.

The sapling was planted yesterday adjacent to the September 11 Memorial at Asser-Levy Park, just off Surf Avenue and West 5th Street. It was announced this morning during a ceremony by the locally-based September 11 Family Group, and is grown from the seed taken from the one and only tree that survived the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.

“The tree provides a link between our local community memorial and the national memorial,” said Larry Savinkin, president of the group and father of September 11 victim Vladimir Savinkin. “This is not just a tree, it’s a member of a family of trees that are a symbol of hope, resiliency and rebirth. It’s important.”

The parent tree was discovered in the rubble of the Twin Towers in October 2011. It was severely damaged – roots snapped, bark scorched away, and most of its branches ripped off. The tree was removed The Pile and put into the care of the New York City Parks Department. During its intense rehabilitation, scientists preserved the tree’s seeds before planting the rejuvenated arbor in the plaza of the September 11 Memorial site in Manhattan.

The seedlings, meanwhile, were raised, and in 2013 the National September 11 Memorial & Museum launched a program distributing three saplings each year to communities across the nation. Other sites include Fort Hood, Texas, and Boston following tragedies in those communities. The Asser-Levy Park sapling is the seventh planting, and the second in New York City (another stands in the Far Rockaways, and was planted after Superstorm Sandy).

“Our loved ones who worked at the World Trade Center probably passed many times the parent of the tree, touching it, sitting in its shade,” said Roman Gertsberg, the group’s executive vice president, who lost his daughter, Marina, on September 11. “Planting this seedling here, it’s a conduit between the past and the future.”

Representatives from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum attended the ceremony, as did Councilman Mark Treyger.

“You have a community that supports you 100 percent. Will never allow [the victims’] contributions, their achievements, their lives to ever be forgotten,” said Treyger.