With the observance of the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima last Thursday, a gingko tree — a symbol of peace — awaits planting at Cartwright Park in Seaside.

Seaside was one of 30 Oregon communities to request and receive the trees, to memorialize the 75th anniversary of the atom bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.

Trees have been planted at locations throughout the state, the first in Creswell in 2019 and the most recent in Ashland last week.

The seedling ginkgo and Asian persimmon trees were grown from seed collected from trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and brought to Oregon by Medford resident Hideko Tamura-Snider, who survived the bombing.

Tamura-Snider received seeds of camphors, camellias, Asian persimmons and ginkgo trees from the international nonprofit Green Legacy Hiroshima, collected from trees that had survived the atom bomb.

“Hibakujumoku” is the Japanese word for all of the trees that survived the World War II atomic blasts, including the gingko, persimmon and others, Kristin Ramstad of the Oregon Department of Forestry said.

In March, city arborist Pam Fleming and Dale McDowell, Seaside’s public works director, walked the grounds of Cartwright Park to see where the tree could best thrive.

They couldn’t plant in the park’s field or near the swings, or under power lines — and sites by the side of the road proved problematic. They settled on a southern area of the park, but postponed the gingko’s planting to address other trees in the area first.

While still small and fragile in a two-gallon pot, the tree could grow from 30 to 45 feet, Fleming said.

The Oregon Department of Forestry last week launched an online map where people can find the location of the peace trees.

The site tells the story of how the trees came to be in Oregon, which now has one of the largest plantings of Hiroshima-origin peace trees outside of Japan. View the site at oregon.gov/odf/ForestBenefits/Pages/Hiroshima-peace-trees.aspx