From Plant Press, Vol. 4, No. 4 from October 2001.
Botany staff received numerous e-mail messages of concern and condolence following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Among the countries from which messages were received are: Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, France, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.
Visits to the US National Herbarium by collaborators with Warren Wagner and other researchers the week of 23 September were cancelled, and planned field work in Venezuela by Laurence Dorr as well as plant collecting in Gabon by Deborah Bell and Stephen Smith were cancelled. Several Botany staff members were traveling during the events, and had difficulties returning to Washington, D.C.
Dan Nicolson was in Sydney, Australia attending a Flora Malesiana Symposium at the time of the attacks, and he reports the following. “Flags were immediately lowered to half-mast and everyone was as shocked as us. I had e-mail messages from Russia, Mexico, Brazil, etc. The symposium continued until 14 September when we took a field trip to a botanic garden in the Blue Mountains. Sunday 15 September my wife and I flew back to Los Angeles where our onward flight to Dulles was cancelled. In Australia, when they saw that my wife was born in Beirut, we were immediately taken away to have all our baggage hand searched. In Los Angeles we had to wait a day to get seats to Washington-Dulles Airport, so we went to a motel overnight. Security was extremely high and it took three hours in long lines to check our bags and clear security. People were patient.”
Gary Krupnick was in Bonn, Germany, meeting with collaborators at the University of Bonn. He arrived in Germany the day before the attacks, and had a successful morning working session before news of the terrorist actions were received. Work continued, but with a heavy heart. He had planned to return to the United States on Friday 14 September. Those plans changed, and after a few days of unclear travel conditions, returned on Monday 17 September. Instead of the direct flight to Dulles Airport, he had to take a flight into Newark Airport and then catch a shuttle into Dulles. Flying into Newark provided the devastating view of the famous New York skyline minus the World Trade Center, with smoke still rising six days after the events. Krupnick reports that he received heartfelt sympathy and support from his colleagues in Germany, and that many memorials and candle light vigils occurred around the cities of Bonn and Cologne.
Vicki Funk was in Santa Barbara, California, at a biogeography meeting at NCEAS, and she reports the following. “I was out bird watching in the morning and did not get to the meeting until the scheduled time of 9 a.m. (noon EST). I had checked out of my hotel and had my small bag with me. I was scheduled to return to D.C. via American Flight #76 which was the actual plane that was headed to Los Angeles when it crashed into the Pentagon. Everyone at NCEAS has been looking for me and we were frantic to find a television and see what was happening. We had people in from Europe as well as all over the U.S. Obviously we were not going anywhere and no one was the least bit upset. Considering the alternative we all felt glad to be alive. We could not get through on the phone and we were all quite concerned about what was happening on the East Coast. Finally we were all able to contact our friends and family and everyone was okay. Although the people at NCEAS were wonderful and Santa Barbara is a nice place to be stuck, I wanted to come home. I tried to rent a car but there were none available. The airlines were very nice and tried hard to get us out but the planes were not flying and when they started again it was going to be the next Monday, maybe, before we could get out. So I took Amtrak from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Chicago (via Albuquerque and Kansas City), Chicago to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Washington and then got on Metrorail to East Falls Church. I started Friday around noon and I arrived at home around 10 p.m. on Monday. The train was packed and also was pulling 20-30 mail cars and had three engines. I had a seat, not a sleeper, and early on Saturday morning I opened my eyes and we were stopping briefly at Winslow, Arizona. I started humming the song from the Eagles (“Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, what a fine site to see, a girl my lord in a flat bed ford slowing down to take a look at me...”) and before long all the baby boomers in the car were singing along. It was a long 3 days but everyone was subdued and very easy going. We were all just glad to be headed in the right direction. Arizona and New Mexico were nice but by the time we got to eastern Colorado, Kansas and western Illinois, sorry folks, but it was all farmland and we saw very little natural vegetation. I was very happy to be home and very grateful to be alive.”