The Dawes Arboretum has continued to bloom in inspiring ways over the past year. We hosted Artisans At The Arboretum, an outdoor mural exhibit where beautiful murals inspired by Dawes dotted the landscape, debuted our electric tram, announced our Welcome Center to break ground next summer and celebrated our 96th anniversary as we headed toward The Arboretum’s centennial.
At The Arboretum, we strive every day to put our best foot forward in serving the community with the ability to enrich lives through the conservation of trees, nature and history. Below, you can find a few highlights from the past year that have aided in the continuing of our mission from every aspect of Dawes.
Volunteers, Membership, Visitation
- 96,266 total visitors
- Visitors from all 52 states (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands)
- 6,513 free admissions were provided due to our library pass program
- 1,235 annual memberships purchased for The Arboretum
- 5,071 volunteer hours
Landscape & Conservation:
- Created a new 4-acre wetland on main grounds in partnership with Stream & Wetlands, Society for Ecologist Restoration and Microsoft
- Led the 9th annual and most successful River Round Up where 3,000 pounds of trash was collected
- 276 new accessions were registered for the Living Collections, Display, Research and Reforestation
- Reached 12,625 vouchers in our herbarium, adding 714 into our database
- Removed over 22,000 stems of invasive crab apple, buckthorn, honeysuckle and other woody invasives
- Created 5 restoration seed mixes to be used where invasive removals have taken place
- Planted 3,751 plants all across The Arboretum
- Mulched 1,505 yards around The Arboretum
- Pruned the grounds for 464 hours
- Spent 593 hours performing storm clean up after a large storm in May
Learning & Research:
- 220+ engagement activities hosted
- 6,478 attendees served
- 2,358 visitors to visit our iconic Daweswood House Museum and the History Center
- 103 pounds of produce donated from our Learning Garden
- 227 camp attendees in June & July