AppleBlitz 2021 and visiting artist Sam Van Aken
These are the tools used by students and volunteers in during Apple Blitz tree measurements.
Volunteer for AppleBlitz 2021
Apples are abundant this year and the Boulder Apple Tree Project is ready to add to the 700 trees already tagged and measured! How many more trees will we be able to find? We need your help for the Apple Blitz 2021 that will be conducted on Saturday, September 25, from 8 to 11 am. This year, we will be focusing on locating and sampling trees from neighborhoods in Martin Acres and North Boulder. Teams of undergraduate students who are taking a class that is using the apple trees to understand local ecological systems will be partnered with community members to survey these neighborhood trees. Our goal is to have 1-2 community volunteers partnered with a group of 2-3 undergraduates to carry out these tree measurements. We will meet in the courtyard between the CU Museum of Natural History and the Shakespeare Festival Stage at 8 am for check-in, group introductions, and a quick tutorial on taking measurements. After field collections are complete, we will reconvene at the Museum of Natural History to return equipment, share experiences, have a snack, and hear about the work of artist Sam Van Aken who will be creating three heritage apple multi-grafted trees in Boulder County. Please stay to enjoy the new exhibit in the Museum's Tree Space that highlights the work of undergraduate students with the BATP over the past 4 years. Please register by Monday, September 13 to secure your spot on a tree team!
Artist Sam Van Aken joining the Blitz with a talk post-Blitz
Join artist Sam Van Aken in the Paleo Hall (CU Museum of Natural History) on Saturday, September 25, at 1pm to learn about his Open Orchard project on Governors Island in New York City. The Open Orchard exhibit combines public art and environmental preservation through the creation of an orchard containing 50 fruit trees of varieties grown in the New York City region that are now lost to changing agricultural practices and climate change. Sam will also talk about his apple grafting project in the Boulder area featuring apple trees grafted with multiple historic varieties found along the Front Range. Free to the public, seating is limited to 100 people.
Survey on Apple History and Climate Change
We are interested in learning more about the role that our changing climate is having on our local apple growing neighborhoods. Project historian, Amelia Brackett Hogstad, has created a survey regarding apple growing neighborhoods, preservation, and the role of local history in guiding dialogue about climate change impacts at local levels. We would greatly appreciate learning more about your thoughts on this topic through this survey! Amelia will also be at the CU Museum of Natural History throughout the morning of the AppleBlitz (Saturday, September 25, between 8-11am) gathering more historical details about the history of apple growing in our area. To take the survey, please visit this link: