Secret Tree Society: McCarthy Beach Chapter
created by Margo Gray
Have you always wanted to talk to trees? Do you wish you knew more about forests? Are you the type of person who sees what others don't? Then come to McCarthy Beach State Park for a chance to join the Tree Society. Complete on-site challenges to earn your way into this exclusive club. Explore the forest, text message with park residents, and pass their tests to make it to the next step.
This site-specific experience allowed individuals or groups to exchange text messages with different trees along a path in the park. The goal of the project was to help shift participants’ engagement with the park from transactional (they come there for a service) to relational (they have a personal connection with this place).
Participants said that they cared more about the trees in the park than they did before the experience, that they felt more emotionally connected to the park, and that they were more likely to return to the park in the next year.