A Garden is Always Becoming - Never Complete
"...this piece of land, this arboretum, is dedicated to stabilizing and balancing the lives of those who visit it. This space is also dedicated to the needs of ordinary people who seek renewal and who simply need an infusion of nature to better handle their days."
--Dr. Ronald Carrier, JMU President Emeritus, at an Arboretum ceremony in 1997
The Present
The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum (Arboretum) is a 125-acre urban botanical preserve located within the city of Harrisonburg and the campus of James Madison University (JMU). It provides an ideal combination of naturalized botanical gardens (33 acres) and forest (92 acres), complementing each other and serving the purposes of research, teaching, and demonstration. This green space is home to a diverse ecosystem featuring native plants of the mid-Appalachians (woodland wildflowers, azaleas, and rhododendrons); a collection of non-native trees, shrubs, and bulbs (magnolias, Kousa dogwoods, hollies, daffodils, etc.); an Oak-Hickory Forest; a lowland swale; a shale barren; herb and rose gardens; a pond habitat; and a bog garden. An outdoor amphitheatre, terraced gardens, a Pavilion, a Monarch Way Station, and the Frances Plecker Education Center (Education Center) enhance the complex further.
The only arboretum located on a public university campus in Virginia, the Arboretum is a haven in the middle of urban growth and development, a place where nature can be honored, appreciated, protected, and studied. The Arboretum is a center for the conservation, enjoyment, and interpretation of plants and ecosystems of the Shenandoah Valley, and serves as an outdoor biology laboratory and environmental educational center with tours, lectures, seminars, workshops and other public programs. Four full-time staff, five part-time staff, and work-study interns help keep the Arboretum thriving.
The Arboretum's philosophy embodies an appreciation of nature as part of intellectual development. JMU faculty members, in disciplines ranging from the arts to physical education to the biological sciences, use the Arboretum as an outdoor classroom and laboratory for research and study. Students from nearby elementary and secondary schools visit the Arboretum and can enjoy educational tours, designed to progress both their science knowledge and interest in flora and fauna. Staff dedicated a Poet-Tree (a tree with a poem basket attached for leaving poems just written and/or taking poems left within the basket) as an arboretum feature intended to encourage the appreciation of nature through writing and offering publicly shared poetry. In addition, the staff manages the Monarch Way Station to teach migration and butterfly habitat needs.
Thanks to JMU faculty and staff, research at the Arboretum has helped to protect flora and fauna. For instance, JMU professor Dr. Reid Norman Harris and his research students have isolated a bacterial strain from the skin of resident salamanders; their studies may protect amphibian species from a fungus pathogen that has globally decimated many amphibian populations and resulted in species extinctions. In another instance, a tree species, Betula uber (Round-Leaf Birch), which is listed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Species Threatened List because of habitat loss and other contributing factors, is being studied by JMU professor Dr. Michael Renfroe and Arboretum staff in order to understand how to protect Betula uber specimens within the Arboretum and to strengthen the overall population. The Arboretum is also a critical living laboratory where scientists identify and work to understand environmental trends resultant from climate change. JMU professor Dr. Heather Peckham Griscom and her students have collected statistical data from a one-hectare test plot of 300 native species trees found within the woodland of the Arboretum. Through this data, they can study the timing of leaf and flower flush in the spring, and they may also track bird migration and arboreal diseases. This set of data will be entered into to the USA National Phenology Network (http://www.usanpn.org/) to help document the phenological response to climate change and will be available to the research community and the general public.
Additionally, JMU prides itself on the Arboretum's availability and use by the public. The variety of groups using the Arboretum vary from participants in the Governor's School, local science camps, regional garden clubs, regional high school cross country teams, local public elementary and middle schools, the Shenandoah Music Guild, and many more. Due to the year-round, no-charge practice, the Arboretum does not count visitors. However, with a programs and events count, the Arboretum estimates that there are approximately 12,000- 15,000 visitors annually. Necessary to helping visitors enjoy their experience, the staff relies on numerous volunteers. Helping with maintenance, plant sales, events, tours, educational programming, plant inventory, and planning, the Arboretum has over 50 volunteers a year dedicating more than 700 recorded hours.
Photo by Christine Anderson A 2001 article in Southern Living magazine termed the Arboretum "an exit for serenity," and a "hidden gem ... a welcome oasis less than 5 minutes off the interstate." The Arboretum has made itself dear to both the educational community as well as the broader residential and business community. For instance, the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley, through the Daily News Record newspaper, in 2011 voted the Arboretum two best place categories, the "Best Place to Relax" in a 2010 poll, the "Best Place to Bring Visitors" in 2009, and the "Best Place to Propose Marriage" in 2008. In addition, each spring, the Arboretum begins a calendar of events and educational opportunities. These include guided tours, a brown bag lunch/lecture series, concerts, children's art camps, letterboxing activities, geo-caching, workshops, bulb and plant sales, and weddings. The staff also has developed new ways of exploring the Arboretum; when implemented, self-guided tours (via phone or web application), interactive maps, improved educational signage, and additional interpretation events will inspire even more support and interest in the Arboretum. The ever-growing yearly agenda of events confirms the number, variety, and value of community participation.
The growing popularity and increasing significance of the Arboretum spurred the Arboretum Board (Board) to approve a four-phase Master Plan revision. Phases II, III, and IV, in the future, will focus on serving families and creating a draw for more visitors. The highlights for these phases include a Visitors' Center, a Children's Garden, improving the herb and rose garden, and developing new garden features. Phase I, the current focus, is directed toward the as yet unmet needs of the Arboretum and the community. These needs concentrate on three core areas: modernizing maintenance features, improving landscape infrastructure, and creating arboretum accessibility.
The Past
Since its founding in 1985, an arboretum goal has been to maintain as much of the natural environment as possible while achieving the maximum use of this resource for the benefit of the university community, the city of Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, and the Shenandoah Valley region. Previous efforts in the Arboretum's creation included the acquisition of lands, the development of the overall lay-out of the site, the design of the gardens and walking trails, and the planting of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers with a focus on native plants.
In October of 1986, a Board was created. They were charged with guiding the Arboretum's development, operations, and fundraising. In 1988, water features, including a pond, were created with the help of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. Erosion and run-off that impact the pond continue to be a challenge to the staff, but the pond habitat is one of the most endearing features of the Arboretum as well as a visual center of the gardens. The forest acres, obtained in 1993, hold 80- to 90-year-old oaks and hickories (with at least three identified century trees protected within the Arboretum's boundaries).
Recognition came when the Arboretum was designated a Living Legacy by the Commission on the Bicentennial for the U.S. Constitution on September 19, 1987. The designation required JMU to have a long-term maintenance plan, access for the general public, and plantings that featured trees and plants from the 13 original colonies. This award helped ensure the Arboretum would be a lasting legacy for JMU and the community.
In a nod to a legacy figurehead, an Arboretum donor society, created in 1990, was named The John Clayton Botanical Society. An English native, John Clayton, who came to Virginia in 1715 and became a self-taught expert in Virginia botany, discovered many woodland wildflowers that the Arboretum currently cultivates. Clayton was praised by Thomas Jefferson as having "contributed more than any other botanist who lived." The famed Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, named the Virginia plant "Spring Beauty" Claytonia virginica in honor of his friend and fellow botanist. To honor Clayton, the Arboretum has a John Clayton Trail, as well as the plants that bear his name.
As evidenced by their naming of The John Clayton Botanical Society, the staff at the Arboretum takes their role as keepers of botanical history seriously. The staff has rescued wildflowers from encroaching development, helping to conserve, propagate, and expand the native Virginian plant ecosystem. In addition, the Arboretum's former director, Norlyn Bodkin, was inducted into the Linnaean Society in London, England, in December of 1991. The Arboretum is a member of numerous botanical organizations including the American Public Gardens Association, the American Horticultural Society, the American Rhododendron Society, the Herb Society of America, and the Virginia Native Plant Society. The Arboretum serves as a component site of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. These associations and organizations offer accreditation to specific areas of botanical knowledge.
The Arboretum strives to offer to its constituents knowledge of areas of interest during its brown bag lunch lecture series held in the open-air Pavilion. The Pavilion was built in the 1990s, and, until the Education Center was opened, it was the only roofed structure available to the public. In 2007, the Education Center was built to offer more access for more visitors of the Arboretum. The Education Center's purpose is to have a space for public and private gatherings, and a space to hold educational events – despite the weather. With this building, the Arboretum fulfilled its potential as a community educational resource. The indoor learning space transformed the Arboretum into a year-round destination for all. The Education Center provides indoor handicap accessible bathrooms as well as handicap accessible ramps and parking. These were firsts for the Arboretum. Interestingly, providing this accessibility revealed to the staff and Board that persons with mobility issues are limited to experiencing the Arboretum from the vantage of the Education Center only.
Moving Forward: Campaign for Accessibility
The Master Plan's momentum has taken hold with the Board's update and approval. Of the three core areas (modernizing maintenance features, improving landscape infrastructure, and creating arboretum accessibility), JMU will tackle the first two with its resources.
JMU will invest in water best management practices as well as in propagation of specific plants. With this investment, maintenance features will be improved through the consolidation of storage and vehicle sheds to one location. In the same location, a heated greenhouse will be built. This will allow Arboretum staff to more efficiently preserve and propagate native and other species on-site. The second core area, landscape infrastructure improvements, will tackle water and landscape limitations. Due to the grading of the land, the Arboretum struggles with water erosion and storm run-off. The JMU staff, faculty, and students will join together to create a best management practice solution via stormwater computer modeling. The grant-funded modeling will help create a string of catch basins (or ponds) which will then function as habitats.
The third, and perhaps most urgent, component of Phase I of the Master Plan allows the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to be accessible to everyone. The Arboretum's Campaign for Accessibility proposes the creation of a Tree Terrace, an Accessible Garden Trail, and a Stage Garden. With the completion of these three projects, a visitor with accessibility issues can explore the Arboretum in much more depth.
The Tree Terrace, under construction beginning in January 2012, will be a hilltop patio and pergola adjacent to the Education Center. The Education Center, already built with an accessible ramp, is on a hill directly overlooking the open lawn area and the Arboretum's major water feature. Adjacent to the Education Center, a terrace will increase the education workspace of the building, allowing educational and social activities to flow from the indoors to the outdoors, as well as providing a scenic overlook for all types of special events. From the Terrace patio, shaded by the pergola, a wheelchair-bound visitor can overlook the Arboretum large lawn, pond, and woods. The Tree Terrace will provide space for working and relaxing in the outdoors. Several handicap-accessible raised-bed gardens and a work table will allow people of all ages and all mobility levels to participate in therapeutic gardening programs.
With the initial phase scheduled for completion in February 2012, the first 0.3-mile-long Accessible Garden Trail takes visitors from the hilltop Tree Terrace, a garden view-shed platform and the adjoining Education Center to the Stage Garden, where visitors can enjoy the scenery. Then, visitors may wind their way past gardens suited for migratory butterfly habitat. As they proceed, they can enter the wetlands garden where dragonflies flit through rushes and aquatic plants and then move on to enjoy watching fish and turtles in the pond. Further along passing the Poet-Tree, visitors can continue pause and watch birdlife at a bird-feeding station, and absorb the beauty of the arboretum’s pond waterfall. Visitors from there can cross a scenic bridge to enjoy continuing their accessible arboretum visit on the further side of the pond and complete the loop back to the Education Center. In a subsequent phase in the future as donations make possible, the accessible trail is planned to continue from the original accessible trail loop ready for use in February, 2012, to the northern parking lot and from there to the Pavilion where they will be able to picnic in the woods and attend educational workshops and brown bag lunches.
Once completed, the Accessible Garden Trail will create a full circle for the Campaign for Arboretum Accessibility. The 0.3-mile-long Accessible Garden Trail will take visitors from the hilltop Tree Terrace, a garden view-shed platform, and the adjoining Education Center to the Stage Garden, where visitors can enjoy the scenery. Then, visitors can wind their way past the Monarch Way Station (a migration point for Monarch butterflies). As they proceed, they can peer at fish and turtles in the pond before entering the bog garden where dragonflies roam. At this point, they can access the northern parking lot or proceed to the other side of the pond, past the Poet-Tree, bird-feeding station, and waterfall. From the northern parking lot, visitors will be able to wind their way to the Pavilion where they can picnic in the woods and attend educational workshops and brown bag lunches. The trail will allow a complete journey for those with physical mobility issues. The ADA-compliant paths will be six feet wide and composed of textured concrete to make them blend into the surroundings.
The third component of the Accessibility Campaign is the Stage Garden, which provides a trail head for the Accessible Garden Trail as well as place to linger and rest. The Stage Garden literally "stages" a visitor's walk around the pond and aesthetically enriches any garden experience with its complete view of the pond, its scenic bridge and also the waterfall, meadow, and the forest backdrop. Easily reached from the Tree Terrace, Educational Center, and the Accessible Garden Trail, the Stage Garden has a solid-surface platform area usable as a performance stage or dance floor, and has an electric substation and a low rock wall to define its space. The Stage Garden allows the Arboretum to both provide an outdoor accessible space at garden level, and to have concerts, available and accessible all.
Conclusion
The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens provides an enriching botanical educational experience within a wooded sanctuary that offers respite from hectic life. Additional financial assistance will allow visitors to experience more educational opportunities and better access to the beautiful gardens and landscapes. Several times, spring through fall, the Arboretum has had to turn away multiple wheelchair visitors who could not physically navigate the gardens. Everyone should be afforded the dignifying human experience of time spent in nature. All persons should be able to navigate through beautiful gardens and relax in a peaceful outdoor setting, which is why all of us "need an infusion of nature to better handle [our] days."
Costs for the Campaign for Accessibility
Phase I of the Arboretum's Master Plan is a priority with JMU. JMU will dedicate $100,000 to create catch ponds and habitats and make a storage shed and greenhouse. A remaining $342,000 investment is needed to pay for the design, construction, and materials for the Tree Terrace, the handicap-accessible paths, and the stage garden in order to make the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens a pleasure to visit for all.
| Tree Terrace | $120,000 |
| Accessible Garden Trail | $172,000 |
| Stage Garden | $50,000 |
| Total Cost | $342,000 |
Mission Statement
The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, a woodland sanctuary on the James Madison University campus, is a public urban garden and forested greenspace that preserves native plants species, provides opportunities for research, and promotes knowledge of the botanical and natural world for people of all ages.
