The New York Times writes about the “Forest of Immortal Stories” from Nucșoara

The „Forest of Immortal Stories” project, developed by Nucșoara Municipality Town Hall and Foundation Conservation Carpathia, is featured in the pages of one of the most important newspapers in the world, The New York Times. The prestigious publication tells the story of the beech tree conservation project from Nucșoara, highlighting its innovation and uniqueness. 

The article was written by Alan Burdick, and the images belong to photojournalist Nicholas J.R. White, who visited Nucșoara and the area of the centuries-old beech trees, talking to both local people and the team that helped develop the project. “The Forest of Immortal Stories” was launched in the spring of 2023 and it aims to preserve 2,544 centuries-old beech trees in Nucșoara commune, Argeș county, by putting them up for adoption on www.treeswithstories.comand promoting the area as a tourist destination with high natural value. Each tree has been marked on a map with GPS coordinates, photographed and given a numbered tag.

Those who choose to adopt one or more trees can leave a story or message on the website. The story is edited,recorded encoded into a QR code that can be found on a tag attached to the adopted tree and on the adoption certificate that is emailed to the adopter. The adoption certificate contains the image of the chosen tree, its number, and the QR code to be scanned to listen to the audio story. . The stories and messages left by the adopters can be listened to on the website www.treeswithstories.com, where the adopted beech trees can be found,, and also in Nucșoara, on the meadows where these spectacular trees are located.

So far, around 100 beech trees have been adopted through the project. People from Romania, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and other countries have chosen to support the project through adoptions.. The messages are recorded in the language in which they were written, and some are bilingual, namely Romanian and English.

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Among the stories that can be found on the website are those of the multiple fencing champion,Ana-Maria Brânză – beech tree no. 44, British journalist Charley Ottley – beech tree no. 45, Răzvan Nedu, multiple paraclimbing champion – beech tree no. 41, the anti-communist resistance movement – beech tree no. 266, Elisabetei Rizea – beech tree no. 263, and many people who decided to support the project and share their thoughts or personal stories – beech trees no. 2224, 99, 1399.

A beech tree can be adopted by an individual for a donation of 700 lei, and the funds will be used by Nucșoara Municipality Town Hall to develop the eco-tourism infrastructure in the area.

The commune of Nucșoara, located in Argeș county, is known for the longest anti-communist resistance movement in the Făgăraș Mountains; it is the gateway to Moldoveanu, the highest peak in the Romanian Carpathians (2,544 metres), but also for the natural values present here, such asthe centuries-old beech trees.