Arboretum develops new strategic plan

The Arboretum is a place for all seasons – spring lilacs and prairie burns, summer day camps and prairie wildflowers, fall woodland colors and wetland waterfowl, winter snowfalls and cross-country skiing.

This year, the Arboretum’s organizational climate and physical plant are undergoing changes as well.

Arboretum staff and the associated network of volunteer naturalists, stewards and guides have integrated the concept of a “learning organization” into the Arboretum’s new strategic plan.

The plan draws heavily on the writings of Peter Senge, who calls for building organizations where people expand their capacity to work toward common goals – organizations of consent, not control.

The Arboretum states its vision in line with this thinking: “We work together as an integrated team in an organizational climate that embraces lifelong learning; draws on the experiences and expertise of all team members; and encourages respectful, collaborative efforts.”

Along with envisioning how its staff works together, the Arboretum has embarked on two major building projects – a 16,000-square-foot addition to the existing visitor center that is scheduled for completion next spring and a four-acre Wisconsin Native Plant Garden.

These endeavors reflect the Arboretum’s continuing efforts to upgrade its facilities and help Arboretum visitors understand the land ethic.

“The plan always has been to build a building that reflects the mission of the Arboretum,” says Arboretum director Greg Armstrong. “We have incorporated several environmentally sensitive elements into the design.”

These elements include a no net stormwater runoff collection system, photovoltaic roofing tiles to produce clean electricity and “dark-sky” lights in the parking lots.

The building and garden also will be integrated. For example, all stormwater runoff from the building will be diverted into two wetland areas within the garden.

“Having some areas that are wetter than others, such as the fen collection area to the south of the new building and the wet-mesic prairie to the north, means a greater variety of plant species and a greater array of plant community vignettes,” says Darrel Morrison, designer of the garden and former professor of landscape architecture at UW–Madison. “These areas will demonstrate to homeowners a landscaping practice that they could adopt on their own properties.”

In addition to the wetland plant communities, the new garden will feature nine other native Wisconsin plant communities, a homeowners’ demonstration garden, a children’s garden, a building entrance garden and a garden of labeled plants.

The planting plan, which will be implemented over the next four years, calls for installing 30,000 plants and an acre of prairie seed. Twenty-six tree species, 21 species of shrubs and vines, and 425 herbaceous species will be on display when the native plant garden is completed.