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Office of Gov. Dennis Daugaard
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, S.D. 57501
605-773-3212
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 28, 2014
CONTACT: Altman Studeny at 605-770-7270 or Jim Soyer at 605-773-5689 or Jim.Soyer@state.sd.us
“Grow: 66/125” Trees Coming To Each County
PIERRE, S.D. – Trees growing in soil collected from all 66 South Dakota counties are being delivered to historic sites in each county of the state over the next two weeks.
The “Grow: 66/125” project was developed by Altman Studeny, a Plankinton teacher and founding member of South Dakotans for the Inclusive Arts, to symbolize the historic declaration which brought the disparate elements of the state together.
“Just as every county is uniquely itself,” Studeny said, “so is its soil. But, only when all of those wonderful differences are combined can our state grow to be the type of forward-thinking environment that improves upon the dreams of the past to persevere long into the future.”
Earlier this summer, Studeny traveled to every county to collect five gallons of soil from sites chosen by local representatives as having particular social or historic importance to their communities. Once collected, all 330 gallons were mixed together by hand in Plankinton. The South Dakotan soil was then repotted to plant Bur Oak saplings.
All 66 trees planted in the intermixed soil spent a month growing in Hilger’s Gulch, north of the Capitol Building in Pierre.
Studeny said he picked Bur Oak because it is a hardy tree that, with care, can thrive in all regions of the state. He was also motivated by what many believe to be the oldest Bur Oak tree in South Dakota growing in Wessington Springs. Fed by mineral springs, the over fifty-foot oak is thought to be almost 400 years old – growing before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
Studeny says that simple things like the trees and soil that surround us in our everyday lives can serve as reminders that South Dakota’s history began long before statehood.
“Mound builders led to Mound City, and geologic processes were in play entire epochs before human settlements came on the scene,” he said. “The lesson of the Bur Oak is therefore one of perseverance. The deeper one’s roots, the more firmly does one stand when the gale winds blow.”
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