Important info!!
ARBORETUM DEFINITION: a place where plants, especially trees, are grown for display and study. A "zoo" for plants.
NATIVE PLANTS are the species that were here before European man arrived. They are the species the native American people lived with and used.
Almost all the plants growing in towns and agricultural settings are species brought by man on purpose or accidentally from other parts of the world. We think it is important to know and preserve the species that lived here before European man changed the landscape. Variety is the spice of life, and Humboldt County's native plants are part of that variety.
ARBORETUM ARRANGEMENT: Plants in the Arboretum are grouped into eight habitats (the general places where things live) common in Humboldt County. These are marked with wooden signs. The Arb has about 220 species of native plants
ARBORETUM ETIQUETTE
1. STAY ON THE PATHS OR THE MOWED GRASS, so you won't step on good plants.
2. LEAVE EVERYTHING HOW YOU FOUND IT.
Don't pick flowers. We need them for other people to see too, and we want them to develop into seeds.
Return animals to EXACTLY where you caught them. From that spot they know where to find food and shelter. EXCEPTION: The common snails and slugs in the Arb are not native and destroy native plants. Remove or destroy them.
Replace habitat like rocks and logs carefully how they were.
3. YOU ARE HERE TO OBSERVE NATURE. Walk slowly, with all your senses alert to what is happening around you.
NOTE FOR TEACHERS: Some projects or observations are really better if you can pick the plant or plant part. Use your discretion. Picking blades of grass in the Arb is really OK, or even one class-set of leaves off cascara as long as the kids understand this is just with your special permission, and you have determined this exercise will not deplete the resource.