Leveraging the recently developed interactive map of the Arboretum’s plant collection UW Information School graduates researched and designed a mobile app. Team member Loryn Lestz shares her experience.

My experience as a volunteer at the UW Arboretum…
It was the first quarter of my freshman year at the University of Washington. I was enrolled in an environmental studies class, and we, the students, were given an option between doing a book report and volunteering for “service learning.” Man, was I glad I chose to volunteer, because my time at the arboretum was great. 

Welcome back Huskies! There are so many opportunities for students to get involved at the UW Botanic Gardens.

After a year of surveying Washington Park Arboretum grid points and digitizing paper maps we have made substantial progress on our georeferenced database project. See photos and a video of Botanic Gardens Director Sarah Reichard.

According to Cliff Mass, UW meteorologist, our past winter of 2012-2013 was the most “boring” on record. There were no major weather events such as wind storms, artic blasts, snowfalls in the lowlands or major flooding. This was indeed good news for the UWBG horticulture staff.

If you have walked around Shoveler’s Pond in the Union Bau Natural Area this month you have seen the area undergoing a flurry of activity from plowing to bulldozers moving dirt.

The January 2013 edition of BGjournal features an article on the restoration work UW students have accomplished as part of the Restoration Ecology Capstone course sequence. The capstone works with community partners to accomplish restoration projects in and around Seattle. Capstone projects have helped to restore 15 acres of the Union Bay Natural Area, a former landfill.
To learn more, read the full article:
BGjournal 10.1 

Graduate student Lauren “Ivy” Clark has been knee deep in seeds ever since
she started her Master’s work at UW.

What do the pre-school kids do while attending the Fiddleheads Forest School at the Arboretum? UW student Mackenzie Urquhart reports on this exciting new education program.

On a sunny autumn day a team of UW students, UWBG staff and team leader Jim Lutz headed down the East Arboretum trail to the Meadow with a shiny, new total station.