In New York, “Ghost Forest” by artist Maya Lin warns of rising sea levels

(Reuters) – Amid New York City’s spring greenery, artist Maya Lin installed dry brown logs of 49 dead white Atlantic cedars in a Manhattan park as a “Ghost Forest” to warn of dangers climate change and the threat of rising sea levels.

“This is a grove of Atlantic cedars … victims of saltwater flooding from rising sea levels due to climate change,” said Lin, designer of the Vietman Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

“They are called ‘Fanstasma Forests,’ so I wanted to bring a ghost forest to raise awareness about this phenomenon,” he added, noting that more than 50% of the Atlantic cedars on the east coast of the United States have been lost.

The trees, many of them 80 years old, come from New Jersey’s Atlantic Pine Barrens, an area located 100 miles from downtown Manhattan.

The exhibit in Madison Square Park, in the shadow of the Empire State Building, runs through November 14.

(Reporting by Dan Fastenberg and Hussein al Waaile; Edited in Spanish by Lucila Sigal)

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