A tree of literary genius.

In the mid-1800s Henry David Thoreau wasn't exactly a revered celebrity among the good folks of Concord, Massachusetts. He was a local fellow who couldn't cut it as a teacher, thought of himself as a writer, occasionally ran his dad's pencil factory, and had modest success with a book he wrote about spending a couple of years at a nearby pond living by himself.

Thoreau himself knew that to all outward appearances, his life was a failure. "If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is esteemed as an industrious and enterprising citizen," he wrote.

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Fortunately, Thoreau found a mentor in Ralph Waldo Emerson, a leading writer, lecturer, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement. When Emerson gave Thoreau permission to stay at a pond on a piece of his property outside town, Thoreau leaped at the chance. He set about building himself a small cabin on Walden Pond and moved there on Independence Day in 1845 to write, reflect, and meditate. He stayed for two years.

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In the second chapter of Walden: or, Life in the Woods, he explains, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

Of all the wonders of Walden Woods, one tree in particular enchanted him: the red maple. Time and again, he pondered the species' glory, especially as its leaves turned in autumn. Quoting from Walden:

"How beautiful, when a whole [red maple] tree is like one great scarlet fruit full of ripe juices, every leaf, from the lowest limb to the topmost spire, all aglow, especially if you look toward the sun! What more remarkable object can there be in the landscape? Visible for miles, too fair too be believed. If such a phenomenon occurred but once, it would be handed down by tradition to posterity, and get into the mythology at last."

Fast forward to 1990, when two proposed commercial development projects threatened the very existence of key historic and ecologically sensitive sites near Walden Pond. Many folks who had read and been inspired by Thoreau's "modestly successful" book felt that if any place should be preserved for posterity, it was Walden Woods. Musician Don Henley learned of the controversy through a story on CNN. He joined the fight and led the fundraising to purchase the land. Thanks to those who rallied to raise money to buy the property back, there is now an ongoing effort to create the Thoreau Institute and to restore historic structures on the property.

When the controversy arose, of particular concern had been a plan to build a large office complex on historic Brister's Hill, located only a short distance from the spot Thoreau had chosen for his Walden house. Soon Brister's Hill will officially open to the public with a new trail system that interprets the ecological and literary history of the site using Thoreau's own words and the words of other leaders in conservation and social reform whom he inspired. The site will welcome school groups and visitors from around the world.

AMERICAN FORESTS' Historic Tree Nursery decided to grow the offspring of a Walden Woods red maple to heighten awareness of the project. I can see why Thoreau especially loved this tree. It is beautiful and distinctive in every season, from the first flowering buds of spring to the scarlet and blazing yellows of autumn, whether it is wearing a finery of green or blanketed in a gentle snow. Thoreau was right: If a lone red maple had made such magnificent changes only once, it would have become the thing of myth.

Walden, the book, and Walden, the place, have become synonymous worldwide with respect and reverence for nature. Thoreau admonished us to be "truly awake" and liberated by the raw freedom of nature.

Walden Woods tells a story that belongs to all of us: how a group of dedicated conservationists can prevail over seemingly overwhelming odds to protect a national treasure. But the story doesn't end there. There are Waldens everywhere, and like their namesake, most are in need of stewardship. If the story of Thoreau's Walden can help inspire each of us to harness our intellect, energy, and passion to care for and protect these sites, then the Walden Woods Project will have achieved far more than it first dared to dream.

Jeff Meyer directs AMERICAN FORESTS' Historic Tree Nursery in Jacksonville, Florida. To purchase a Walden Woods Red Maple or other historic tree, visit www.historictrees.org or call 800/677-0727.