Did you know that Penn State Mont Alto’s Arboretum was among the first tree research stations in the country and that many of the trees on campus are over 100-years-old? The arboretum has served as an educational and instructional tool for all forestry students who have walked under the canopies of Mont Alto’s trees since 1903.

Penn State Mont Alto’s arboretum is of historical significance to the field of forestry. The Arboretum was created during the inaugural year of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy at Mont Alto (1903), and plantings were begun between 1904 and 1907. The Forest Academy at Mont Alto was only the third public forest school in the country (after Yale and Biltmore, respectively).

In the early years, the forestry students spent their days creating an arboretum for career training as well as research purposes. In one day during the 1905 academic year, students were sent to the surrounding countryside searching for native tree species not found on the campus. That day, approximately 400 specimens representing 30 species were returned to the campus. The forest academy administration also requested free seed samples from various parts of the country and of the world from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

“During the early years of the arboretum, there was a push to grow and diversify the trees on the campus,” reports student Kevin Hoover in his 1988 report. The arboretum grew substantially from 1907 to 1918.

“With the wide variety of trees and the level of maturity of the trees in the arboretum, along with numerous indigenous species within a fifteen mile radius, Mont Alto is an excellent place to teach dendrology,” said Ken Swisher, retired associate professor of forestry who taught dendrology for thirty years.

“The arboretum has really added to the success of the dendrology program, because students can branch out their studies geographically, without having to actually travel to the native areas of these trees,” said Swisher. “We have many west coast and southern species of trees right here at Penn State Mont Alto.”

Today, the arboretum contains 35 families, 74 genera, and 191 species of trees. The third oldest public forestry school is still thriving at Penn State Mont Alto. “Our history as a prestigious and dedicated forest academy is still very evident and very much a part of what we do everyday at Penn State Mont Alto,” said CEO Dr. David H. Goldenberg.

"Just as we fought the Chestnut blight in 1910, today our students and faculty are involved in an American Chestnut research project," said Beth Brantley, forestry instructor. "We have an experimental plantation of American chestnuts and backcrosses with Chinese and other chestnuts, which was donated by the local chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation here in our arboretum. These trees will be useful as a research demonstration as well as a teaching tool for our forest technology program, and we look forward to reintroducing their offspring into our arboretum as well as our local forest community," Brantley added. The experimental plot is located near Conklin Hall.

Because of the integral role the arboretum holds at Mont Alto, the university is looking toward the future of this educational resource. The goal of the campus is to have the arboretum nationally certified.

“Our arboretum has remained uninterpreted for the general community due to a lack of funding and resources,” said Goldenberg. “We would like to turn the arboretum into a community resource that provides opportunities for school children, nature groups, and foresters alike to learn about our environment and the importance of trees and shrubs.”

To become a certified arboretum, the campus would need more signage, new plantings, and constant attention to the preservation and growth of the arboretum. “For everyone who has planned and nurtured this arboretum, as well as for those who studied and learned their profession in it, we plan to pursue the revitalization and certification of Mont Alto’s arboretum,” Goldenberg said.

Nearly 100 years after its inception, the forestry students still study and perform research under the canopies of the trees at Penn State Mont Alto. A tradition of environmental concern and academic excellence that was born in the early 1900’s at the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy still reigns today at Penn State Mont Alto.