 I'm Harold Pitchford. I'm a former city forester for the City of Fort Worth, beginning in 1989 through 1999 for about 10 years. When I took that position, there was only three urban foresters in Texas. There was Victor Cadova was in Houston, John Guadratis in Austin, and myself here in the City of Fort Worth. And the City of Fort Worth actually has probably the oldest urban foresting program in the state of Texas. It's part of the first city charter. They made it against law to tie your horse to a tree. Fort Worth was established as a military outpost up on the bluff not too far from here overlooking the Trinity River where the current courthouse stands. Because the government didn't allow trading and commerce on federal grounds, they established a trading post here under this tree. Henry Clay Daggett and Archibald Leonard established the first trading post in Fort Worth under this tree. They built a log cabin just behind the tree that's no longer here. Later, in 1953 the Tarrant County Historical Society approached the parks department about purchasing this site and preserving this tree because of its historical significance to Fort Worth. So in 1954 that purchase was completed. They split the funding with the Tarrant County Historical Society and the City of Fort Worth. And this became a dedicated park in 1954 and been a dedicated park ever since then. Certainly originally the tree was known as the famous Tree of Texas as a program sponsored by the Texas Forest Service and they published a book back in the late 70s early 80s and it's part of that collection. It later became a heritage tree when that program was started. In this case Trader's Oak is on dedicated park land and it'll always be dedicated park land unless there's the state law requires a general election to ever change it. So the chances that happen are very very remote. This recognizes that the commerce and business industry of Fort Worth actually started at this site. I think it's important to educate the public about the importance of trees, particularly urban trees and how they fit into our society and they're part of the environment and recognizing that a lot of our society and civilization here in Fort Worth started underneath this tree. The Fort Worth Urban Forest Master Plan utilizing the benefits of trees to make Fort Worth a greener, cleaner, cooler and healthier city today and in the years to come. Join the conversation.