Student Justin Butler spreads fertilizer at the Flower
Trial Gardens on the University Park campus.
According to the preliminary master plan for the
proposed Penn State Arboretum on the campus,
the gardens will eventually be relocated near a
proposed education center to be located on
Bigler Road in the Mitchell Tract.
Photo: Greg Grieco
By Bill Campbell
Special to Intercom
An education center, demonstration and theme gardens, tree and plant collections, woodlands, and a teaching and research area highlight the preliminary master plan for the proposed Penn State Arboretum on the University Park campus.
The plan for a 395-acre arboretum, developed within the context of the University Park Campus Master Plan, was detailed at two public presentations April 27. It was prepared by the Penn State Arboretum Task Force in conjunction with the Office of Physical Plant and consultants Sasaki Associates Inc. and Urban Forest Management Inc.
"The Task Force views the arboretum as a facility of the University in support of its missions of teaching, research and outreach," Kim Steiner, professor of forest biology and task force chair, said. "We see it as a vehicle for focusing interdisciplinary scholarship on conservation and environmental issues."
The proposed arboretum includes University farmland north of the campus (Big Hollow lands), the Overlook Heights Upland area to its west, and, to the east, the Mitchell Tract on which Schreyer House, the University president's residence, is located.
"The proposed arboretum site is important, both as an open-space link, but also because it is the last undeveloped piece of land adjacent to the University," said Joseph Hibbard of Sasaki Associates. "A variety of woodland types, ranging from mature woodlands to conifer greens in the north end of Big Hollow provides a wonderful sense of seclusion though surrounded by urban growth."
Cornerstone of the arboretum is the education center to be located on Bigler Road in the Mitchell Tract. The 20,000 square-foot building will include a reception center, classrooms, meeting rooms, a 150-seat auditorium and space for displays. It will consist of two wings, between which there will be an outdoor patio garden for gatherings, fair-weather displays and arts performances.
The plan proposes that demonstration gardens, theme gardens, a conservatory and propagation greenhouses be located southeast and southwest of the center. The University's Flower Trial Gardens are to be relocated to that area.
Theme gardens would include vegetable, perennial, butterfly, herb and shade gardens, specialty gardens for flower and plant societies, and a historic parterre garden that replicates a 19th century feature of the University Park campus. Also planned are a vines collection, flowering shrub collection and a hedge collection and demonstration area.
A 10-acre naturalistic park, designed to establish a transition between the campus and the arboretum, is to be developed along Park Avenue. It will contain a collection of Pennsylvania woody plants and include two ponds around which lowland trees and aquatic gardens would be located.
"Our basic plan is to locate all major public areas and educational displays on the Mitchell Tract adjacent to Park Avenue," Hibbard said. "We propose using plants and hedges to organize it into an understandable, human-scale environment."
A dedicated teaching and research area will be located on the Overlook Heights Tract. Plans call for it to be devoted to turfgrass research and other environmentally sensitive agricultural activities such as no-till farming and integrated pest management. The area also may include nurseries for woody plants propagation and research.
Planners also envision development of a current dairy pasture in the Big Hollow lands as a native prairie community that would enable researchers to study the relationship of human activity to a natural environment.
The plan recommends use of existing farm and service roads for travel within the arboretum. The historic Bellefonte Railroad bed trail on the site would be developed as a recreational path and bikeway.
"For the most part, it will be a walking arboretum, using the existing roads and the proposed bikeway path," Hibbard said. "The site has many wonderful attributes and opportunities for development as an arboretum. We hope our preliminary plan will inspire the University community to move forward and establish a memorable facility at University Park."
According to Steiner, while there are arboreta in the eastern and western parts of the state, central and northern Pennsylvania lack an arboretum.
"We hope to correct that. There is a long history of efforts to develop an arboretum at the University. It is our intention that this be the final effort and that an arboretum be established at Penn State."
He acknowledged, however, that an arboretum would only become a reality through private giving.
"This a major project and we are planning to phase it in over a 10-year period," he said. "We are looking at a cost of $38 million for the total project. We believe we can go ahead with the initial stage if we raise $10 million.
"The arboretum fund-raising efforts are not yet organized, but the University's Office of Development and Alumni Relations will be looking for opportunities to fund the arboretum as it carries out its fund-raising responsibilities. If the University community is as enthusiastic about this project as I suspect, then I believe the funding will materialize, but we do need everyone's active support."