Update: Several trees were planted on the memorial plaza on Saturday. Return to The MEMO soon for more pictures and information about the planting. Until then, read this story about this landmark tree move that brought life back to the World Trade Center site.

At least a dozen Swamp White Oak trees will be planted on the western side of the World Trade Center site near the 9/11 Memorial pools. The trees currently average 30 feet in height and have a branch spread of 12 feet. They were chosen from areas within a 500-mile radius of the WTC site, as well as from New York, Pennsylvania and near Washington D.C. – to symbolize the locations directly impacted by the 9/11 attacks.

The trees have been growing at the Millstone Township, NJ, nursery since 2007. Houston-based Environmental Design is coordinating the tree move from the nursery and planting at the World Trade Center for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels  will oversee the planting of the first trees on Saturday morning at at the site.

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial

Staff photographer Amy Dreher snaps a lot of pictures at the World Trade Center site, documenting the construction progress of the 9/11 Memorial. Amy also trains her lens on the smaller pieces that may be overlooked with a project of this magnitude. Through “The Lens: Viewing the 9/11 Memorial,” readers of The MEMO blog can share some of the unique vantage points captured by Amy.

On the move: With a scorching sun overhead, two construction workers wheel concrete pavers across the base of the north pool of the 9/11 Memorial. Like the summer heat, the granite and concrete work on the pools have increased.  Nearly 100 percent of the granite work is complete on the north pool, while the same work is moving swiftly on the south pool.

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the Memorial

Today, MyGoodDeed.org officially launches 911dayofservice.org, a new website supporting this year's 9/11 National Day of Service. The website incorporates a powerful and innovative tool that makes it easy for individuals to find and support charitable causes that match their interests and provides a range of actions for supporting their causes.  This “powered by MyGoodDeed” application was developed in collaboration with Guidestar, Network for Good, AllForGood, and HandsOn Network. 

As part of the new website, MyGoodDeed also unveiled their 9/11 National Day of Service education program, which includes more than 20 lesson plans on 9/11 as well as “Learn and Serve” toolkits to help schools organize age appropriate service projects.  The 9/11 Memorial contributed two sets of commemorative teaching resources that, along with supplemental materials from 4 Action Initiative, Tribute WTC Visitor Center, and Education Trust, provide constructive and comprehensive tools to teach students about the events of 9/11 and inspire classrooms and families to adopt causes and perform good deeds in observance of 9/11.  More than 10,000 classrooms are expected to utilize these materials this year.

In 2009, MyGoodDeed spearheaded the first 9/11 National Day of Service, which turned out more than 5 million people in all 50 states and 165 countries, including President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, to perform acts of service to commemorate 9/11.  This year they anticipate even more and, on September 11, 2011, hope to stage the largest single day of service and volunteering in the nation’s history in honor and commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the attacks with the goal of encouraging as many as 10 million Americans to adopt and support causes, volunteer or perform good deeds.  The 9/11 Day of Service initiative is led by the 9/11 nonprofit MyGoodDeed.org, in partnership with The Corporation for National and Community Service, HandsOn Network, and the 9/11 Memorial.

By Ryan Pawling, Coordinator of Partnershiops for the 9/11 Memorial

Staff photographer Amy Dreher snaps a lot of pictures at the World Trade Center site, documenting the construction progress of the 9/11 Memorial. Amy also trains her lens on the smaller pieces that may be overlooked with a project of this magnitude. Through “The Lens: Viewing the 9/11 Memorial,” readers of The MEMO blog can share some of the unique vantage points captured by Amy.

Place message here: 9/11 Memorial construction worker John "Jay" Duddy wears a shirt created for the crews building the memorial. Working on the project is a source of great pride for the construction crews. Many place "Never Forget" stickers on their hardhats.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Staff photographer Amy Dreher snaps a lot of pictures at the World Trade Center site, documenting the construction progress of the 9/11 Memorial. Amy also trains her lens on the smaller pieces that may be overlooked with a project of this magnitude. Through “The Lens: Viewing the 9/11 Memorial,” readers of The MEMO blog can share some of the unique vantage points captured by Amy.

Surface of a reflecting pool:  On a recent afternoon in August, workers lined the 9/11 Memorial's north pool with concrete pavers. The memorial will feature 30-foot waterfalls that plunge into reflecting pools. The pavers line the surface where water collects to create the massive reflecting pools.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Come out and support the second annual World Trade Center Run to Remember on September 5.  Pictured above are former and current 9/11 Memorial staff members, who supported the event last year. 9/11 Memorial Museum Director Alice M. Greenwald is pictured on the far right.

Registration for the fundraising event is now open.  To register, visit www.wtcruntoremember.com. According to the organizers, the World Trade Center Run to Remember event is "a celebration of the lives of those lost on September 11, 2001."

The fundraising event is held on Governor's Island, where participants can run or walk.  The funding from the run supports various charitable 9/11 organizations.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

More than a million people have visited the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at 20 Vesey St. At the preview site, they've learned more about the Memorial and Museum and the people killed on 9/11. Often times, they take something with them when they leave  - a pen, a pendant or book commorating the visit.

You can find these keepsakes and others like the "Here Is New York" book online at the Preview Site's  Museum Shop. All net proceeds from sales at the preview site goes to building and sustaining the Memorial.

Here's more about the special collection of photos found in "Here is New York."

In response to the World trade Center tragedy, and to the unprecedented flood of images that resulted from it, a unique exhibition and sale of photographs was displayed in a store front in SoHo.  "Here Is New York" was not a conventional gallery show.  It was something new, a show tailored to the nature of the event, and to the response it elicited.  The exhibition was subtitled "A Democracy of Photographs" because anyone and everyone who had taken pictures relating to the tragedy was invited to submit their images to the gallery, where they were digitally scanned, printed and displayed on the walls alongside the work of top photojournalists and other photographers.  This book contains nearly a thousand of the more than five thousand pictures that some three thousand photographers submitted for the exhibition.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Staff photographer Amy Dreher snaps a lot of pictures at the World Trade Center site, documenting the construction progress of the 9/11 Memorial. Amy also trains her lens on the smaller pieces that may be overlooked with a project of this magnitude. Through “The Lens: Viewing the 9/11 Memorial,” readers of The MEMO blog can share some of the unique vantage points captured by Amy.

Stuck in memory: A bumper sticker on a U.S. postal truck reads “I Still Heart NY,” the lowercase “Ls” are shaped like the world Trade Center’s Twin Towers. The truck is a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. The U.S. post office on Church Street was closed for years after it was damaged on 9/11.  

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial

The towering twin steel beams were once part of the facade of the World Trade Center's south tower, sheathed in smooth aluminum. Salvaged from ground zero after the 9/11 attacks, the tridents are being resurrected and will greet visitors as they enter the pavilion of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The remnant steel became known as tridents because the beams are crowned with three prongs.

The tridents will be moved to the World Trade Center site from storage at a Queens airport hangar, where tons and tons of remnant steel has remained since the Sept. 11 destruction at WTC.  The tridents are planned to be returned to the WTC site this fall and will be installed while work on the pavilion continues. Each is about 70-feet tall and weighs 52 tons.

Read more about the tridents in the New York Daily News.

"I feel this way about it. World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center buildings in New York ... had a bigger purpose than just to provide room for tenants. The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace," Minoru Yamasaki, chief architect of the World Trade Center, once stated.

Pictures:Welders work on the so-called tridents that will stand in the 9/11 Memorial Museum's entry pavilion. (Photos by Lynn Rasic)

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial

A sloping ramp will lead visitors into bedrock and into the space of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Yesterday, a small group of news reporters and 9/11 victims' families members were led on a tour of the space by Memorial Museum Director Alice Greenwald and museum architects Steven Davis and Mark Wagner. The tour walked under the high-ceiling chamber, by the so-called Survivors Staircase and the Last Column.

Update: Here's the AP report. In the Wall Street Journal, Davis admitted his design approach is vastly different from a majority of museums. The so-called slurry wall and foundations box columns for the south tower are archeolgical compoenents that are part of his design as well as exhibits. "The exhibits are the icon. It's the inverse of a traditional museum in those respects," said Davis, partner of Davis Brody Bond LLP.  

By Michael Frazier, Sr. Communications Manager for the 9/11 Memorial