Sprucewood Falcons love their school to the moon and back, and now they have a little sapling to prove it! The elementary has become the second Canyons District school to become home to a “moon tree”. Three years ago, Sara Lee, Sprucewood’s Library Instructional Technician, learned about the book “Moon Tree: The Story of One Extraordinary Tree” by Carolyn Bennett Fraiser. When she read the book to students, they immediately wanted to plant a moon tree like in the book. Lee promised the students she would do everything she could to make it happen and today, that promise was fulfilled. The tiny Douglas fir was grown from seeds carried aboard the Orion spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis program. It journeyed some 270,000 miles, circumnavigating the moon and splashing back to Earth on Dec. 11, 2022, before the seed was nurtured and grown at one of eight United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service facilities. This is the second time NASA has sent tree seeds to space with the aim of planting them at locations across the country. The first batch of tree species flew aboard Apollo 14 in 1971. One of those Moon Trees, also a Douglas fir, was planted outside the Utah State Capitol in 1976, but was removed in 1999 when it was damaged by tornado. A second was planted in Draper and some Sprucewood students even went on a field trip to see the tree before receiving theirs. Students helped to plant the little sapling and promised to help it grow by being kind and saying nice things to the tree. #wearecanyons
