Friendship Oak Tree renovation project
Safety improvements are in the works for the historic Friendship Oak tree on the Southern Miss Gulf Park Campus.
The famous oak tree has stood for more than 500 years. In 2021, the campus was approved for a sidewalk grant by MDOT to allow visitors to easily walk around the live oak.
Crews say the project is set to be complete by January of next year.
Here’s more on what you can expect at that site once the work is done. Jason Cantu with USM Gulf Park said, “What we did is we took the street from out from in front of the oak. We are going to be able to have a dedicated sidewalk, a dedicated parking space. So, that’s when visitors come, they can come directly and see the oak and be protected. In front of the oak, we are creating a natural boundary. It’s going to be about eight feet of native plants that encourage pollinators, so butterflies and bees. All of the plans, we put around campus compliment the oak and also promote our little flying friends.”
We’ll have an expanded look at this project in our Meggan Monday series this coming Monday, September 9th. You can catch it each hour from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on our WXXV morning show.
