main news Arboretum Earns Upgraded Certification
With 108 (and counting) unique tree species, the Agnes Scott Arboretum was elevated last year to Level II certification by ArbNET, the international accreditation program of Morton Arboretum near Chicago. Only five other Georgia arboreta are certified at Level II. In addition to a minimum of 100 species, criteria for Level II include staff dedicated to arboretum management and enhanced educational programming. Agnes Scott College’s trees have been used for instruction for more than a decade. Strategically placed QR-coded plaques at 18 locations deliver facts and stories about the trees, campus history and liberal arts themes. When scanned, the plaques provide information as varied as the trees: the planting of southern magnolias by longtime music professor Christian Dieckmann, the surprising ecosystem that exists high in the campus canopy, the brilliant yellow ginkgo as a “living fossil” and more.
Former adjunct professor of classics Jim Abbot conceived of turning Agnes Scott’s trees into “teachers” in 2006. He collaborated with Center of Sustainability Executive Director Susan Kidd ’78, M.A.T. ’07, to transform the campus tree walk into an educational platform and eventually into an accredited arboretum. Several trees are more than a century old, and at least one — a stately white ash — is said to predate the founding of Agnes Scott in 1889. Along with an incense cedar on campus, the white ash ranks among Trees Atlanta’s “Champion Trees,” distinctive for their age or size. Other trees have been planted more recently as individual tributes. Established in 2008, the Honor Tree program recognizes a faculty or staff member who has 25 years of service. The honoree can elect for another tree to be planted for each additional five years of service. Trees also can be given as memorials. A February planting ceremony of
seven trees brought the total number of honor trees on campus to 48. According to Karina Leung ’18, the center’s sustainability fellow, honor trees are a key strategy for sustaining the arboretum. Leung authored Agnes Scott’s comprehensive five-year tree care plan that addresses a range of factors from tree health to aesthetics, and she works closely with the Arboretum Advisory Committee, an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff and students. The latest ArbNET certification milestone came as part of a push to bring at least one specimen of all 32 subspecies of native Georgia oaks to campus. Only four rare and hard-tofind oak varieties remain to be added, and Leung is confident they will be located. To learn more about the college’s arboretum, visit arboretum.agnesscott.edu. 5
