Blog

The last week of February the Arboretum launched its new 75th Anniversary website

We are now happy to report that construction has begun at the Animal Science GATEway Garden!

UC Davis has been named “Tree Campus USA” for the third* year in a row by the Arbor Day Foundation!

Ellen Zagory, Director of Horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum, is being honored with a special tile at the Vallarta Botanic Garden (in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) where she is on the board of directors. Congratulations to Ellen on a well-deserved honor!

At the very west end of the Arboretum, construction crews are working to complete a project on a channel of Putah Creek that will not only improve our campus utility operations, but restore a native turtle habitat.

Peter Raven, the internationally respected botanist, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden and a recipient of the National Medal of Science, attended a planning meeting with Arboretum staff and campus partners last month focusing on the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden initiative, a plan to transform campus plantings into sustainable teaching landscapes. Dr. Raven spoke enthusiastically about the project’s potential for educating students and visitors about the university, environmental science and global climate change.

In our last update on this project we let you know that a native wildflower mix would be planted here to allow our teams another growing season to eliminate the Bermuda grasses.

Our new field of native grasses is taking root and filling in what was once a little-used, high-maintenance lawn on the west side of campus, adjacent to our oak collection.

To support this need our campus Transportation and Parking Services has taken the lead in helping visitors right from our parking lots by offering campus maps at entry and exit points and well-placed signage to inform visitors they can use their smart phones for walking directions and receive complimentary motorist assistance services should the need arise. These visitor-friendly services are currently being piloted in the Mondavi Center parking lot.

The solar installation in Lot 1 is part of a larger project in which the campus is putting up solar panels in seven locations throughout campus to reduce our carbon footprint. The combined first-year output from all seven sites is estimated at 1.1 million kilowatt-hours — enough power to serve two large campus buildings for an entire year.