Master Planning Begins

Following on the heels of the recent establishment of the WSU Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, an exciting master planning process is beginning in fall, 2008, which will engage the WSU community in a visioning process for the new arboretum. Through a competitive process, an outside design firm with experience in arboretum design and development will be selected and will begin work with faculty, students, and the public this fall and winter to help identify a collective and unique vision for the WSU Arboretum.

Master planning is critical to the success and mission of any arboretum because it allows the necessarily long-term process of arboretum development, that quite naturally takes decades, to be completed in a series of smaller, more manageable and integrated steps. Each step along the way builds new features and design elements that ultimately unite and contribute to the beauty of a fully mature arboretum.

Master planning is also important because the new WSU Arboretum and Botanical Gardens will begin its mission with empty pockets. A funding program for the WSU Arboretum has not been established and it will be important for donors and contributors who are committed to help establish the arboretum to be able to see the long-term vision for the facility. By having a conceptual master plan, future donors will be able to see the overall design of the future arboretum and have opportunities to contribute to specific projects, facilities, gardens, and other special features of the arboretum.



[Photo: Members of the WSU Arboretum and Botanical Garden Advisory Committee, (L-R) Bobbie Ryder, Caroline Pearson-Mims, Chuck Cody, David McCarroll, Jay Baker, Kappy Brun (facing away), and Gene Patterson survey the future arboretum site and discuss the process of master planning.]

One of the features that will make the WSU Arboretum and Botanical Gardens truly unique and distinctive among existing arboreta and public gardens around the world is the inclusion of a wildlife center to highlight the important work of WSU faculty and students on threatened and endangered species and the conservation of biological diversity of the natural world. One of the unique features of the WSU Arboretum will be that it will have facilities and programs that display the science behind both plant and animal conservation.



[Photo: The site of the future WSU Arboretum and Botanical Gardens covers about 95 acres on the edge of the WSU campus and has a small, naturalized forest, pond, and stream (background) that serves as a wildlife sanctuary.]

We hope to have a final design and conceptual master plan for the arboretum completed by spring, 2009. You are welcome to contribute to this visioning process by attending one of the planning events that will be announced, or by simply submitting your thoughts and ideas to the arboretum implementation committee. With the help and dedication of many people, each working to take a small step along the way, we will be able to grow a beautiful arboretum and botanical gardens for future generations.

Click on the following link to see a larger image of the current 2008 Pullman Campus Master Plan Draft (1.4 mb) which shows the future arboretum site in green in the lower right hand part of the map.