At Patterson Park, the ribbons -- burlap stained red by natural dyes -- will form just one element of the installation. Snaking more than 5,000 feet northward from the southwest corner of South Patterson Park and Eastern avenues, they delineate an easily traveled path in the direction of the park's famed pagoda.
Yesterday, 80 volunteers were also driving more than 600 wooden stakes in the ground to create another path, one that intersects the ribbon roadway and travels along a northwest-southeast axis. Designers are attaching to many of those stakes laminated cards that share such information as the number of tree species in Patterson Park (59) and the number of street trees in Baltimore (about 300,000).
"Those are places where visitors can pause and reflect" on the importance of trees to the environment rather than racing past them as we often do, Roberts says.
Baird and Pegorsch have piggybacked Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project onto another "green" initiative called TreeBaltimore. Through the office of Mayor Sheila Dixon, it aims to double Baltimore's "urban canopy" -- that is, the amount of terrain covered by trees as seen from a bird's-eye view -- from 20 percent to 40 percent by the year 2030.
"This exhibition ... is part of the effort to raise awareness for the TreeBaltimore program as well as reinforce the value of our tree canopy, city parks and green spaces," said Anne Draddy of the city Department of Recreation and Parks.
From noon to 4 p.m. tomorrow at Patterson Park, Park Life/City Movement will feature live music by local bands; kids' activities including bubble machines, face painting and a station at which participants can design their own leaf; and talks by experts on the environment and Baltimore's urban canopy. The exhibition continues Sunday and will be taken down Monday.
None of the effort -- and none of the materials -- will be wasted. For instance, the burlap will be distributed to area nurseries.
jonathan.pitts@baltsun.com
