April 2023:

We have news from our steadfast and tireless friends in Oregon through Jim Gerbach, who writes:

‘Oregon City planted a hibakujumoku in April 2020, but due to the pandemic, a public dedication could not be held until recently. The hibakujumoku dedication event featured moving poems by Oregon's former poet laureate Kim Stafford and a speech by the mayor of Oregon City, Denyse McGriff. The hibakujumoku is now protected by its own fence and is planted in a historic spot on the grounds of the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. This area is symbolic; it was a focal point for fishing and trade among Native Americans and home to several Indian tribes prior to Euro-American settlement. The Oregon Trail also passed through this area, which saw some 300,000 people making their way westward to settle in the western half of Oregon.’