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http://www.thearb.org
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Categories: Animal, Educational, Environment, Research, [ view all ]
Arboretum at Flagstaff Charity Profile
Originally The Arboretum was the year-round home of Frances McAllister, built in the late 1960’s. In 1981 she began her long-held dream of creating an arboretum when she donated the land and created an endowment for the project. Her love of gardening actually goes back to her childhood experiences in her parents’ gardens in the Los Angeles area. But she found trying to duplicate the typical southern California garden in our high-desert climate frustrating indeed; increasingly she learned to appreciate the beauty and durability of our own drought-tolerant native plants in our area’s short growing season. The present gardens emphasize her desire to preserve and encourage the use of these water-wise natives in the gardens of our Colorado Plateau in a setting more akin to the terrain where they naturally occur.
The Arboretum’s 200 acres were originally a working ranch with cattle and full-time staff. The staff home, nearest the road along the property, was built first, followed by the main house, named after Walter Reichart, the architect, using the volcanic stone found on the property. The staff home has been converted to administrative offices, and Mrs. McAllister’s home serves many public functions, from dinners to lectures, meetings and conferences. The Horticulture Center—a large passive solar greenhouse—was subsequently added by Mrs. McAllister to aid numerous botanical projects in cooperation with Northern Arizona University’s faculty and students. The Log House, between the road and the meadow, was originally built on forested land in 1934-35 near old Route 66 just west of Flagstaff by Frances Burt and her fiancée John McAllister. This was their summer home for many years after they were married. The house was continuously lived in, but in recent years a business partnership that now owned the real estate determined that it should be demolished as land was cleared for other projects. To save it from "a fate worse than death", Mrs. McAllister hired a local contractor to move her house to The Arboretum, where it now serves as a summer home for interns and retreat for community members.
As The Arboretum has taken form through the years, several projects have been constructed to aid in the research and education components of our mission, including development of a nature trail, conversion of the original cattle tank to a pond for a study aimed at preserving the unique Little Colorado spinedace, a Constructed Wetlands to study how native plants are able to adapt to both extremes of wet and dry conditions, and expansion of greenhouse and bedhouse facilities.
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Arboretum at Flagstaff Volunteer Information
A Call for Volunteers
Throughout the year, we seek volunteers to participate in our day-to-day activities and special events. If propagation, high elevation gardening, or crafting with children or handling raptors interests you, please consider sharing your time and talents with the visiting public and Arboretum staff.
Volunteer Position Descriptions
HORTICULTURE
Help with basic greenhouse maintenance and propagation work. Assistance is needed with such tasks as watering, pruning, seeding flats, potting plants, cleaning seeds, record keeping and general cleanup. Help is also needed in collecting seeds and cuttings from the gardens for propagation purposes and creating signage for plant sale items.
GARDENS
Assist in the maintenance of existing gardens and installation of new gardens. Duties may include pruning, weeding, watering, fertilizing, insect and disease control, soil preparation, drainage control, installation of irrigation systems and planting.
RESEARCH
Help gather data from ongoing experiments on threatened and endangered plants or plants with horticultural potential both on site and in the field. Work may involve taking measurements on plants, weighing plant parts, hand-pollinating flowers, germinating seed, preparing test plots, transplanting plants and recording survival information. Field trips for seed collection take place throughout the season.
ADMINISTRATION /PUBLIC RELATIONS
Assist with event publicity, photo and slide file, library, photocopying, and computer design and word processing, scanning, signs and flyers, information handouts, and internet searches.
VISITOR SERVICES
Assist with reception (phone and in person), admissions, gift shop sales, cashiering, restocking and re-shelving. Help with other department projects. Help during special events. Answer many questions about the Arboretum and its flora.
FACILITIES
Assist with routine maintenance of grounds and facilities, and work on special projects, including building outdoor seating.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Assist with the plant sales, and Fall Open House as part of the Flagstaff Festival of Science. Duties include event set up, cashiering, providing sales and gardening advice, helping children with hands-on activities, parking cars and restocking.
DOCENT PROGRAM
Present programs to the public, including two daily regularly scheduled garden tours, seasonal nature trail tour, scheduled public school field trips, scheduled group tours, and off-site presentations. The Docent program requires a significant commitment of time. Information is available upon request.
EDUCATION
Assist with scheduled school group programs, record keeping, photo and slide file, and computer design and word processing, including newsletter production, scanning, signs and flyers, information handouts, and internet searches. Update our website. Create classroom kits, and slide shows.
RAPTOR PROGRAM
Volunteers assist trained raptor rehabilitators with daily "Live Birds of Prey" programs for the visiting public. Assistance is needed in caring for birds, handling live hawks, owls, and falcons, and providing public education programs on environmental stewardship.
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Arboretum At Flagstaff
