Holden Arboretum

Programs: See schedule othe holden arboretum is an approximately 3,500 acre outdoor museum of trees that promotes the beauty and importance of trees and woody plants to create sustainable and healthy communities in the great lakes region. In addition to the 3,500 acres of display areas and natural woodlands, the arboretum has approximately 1,400 acres in conservation easements and approximately 29 acres at the leach research station in madison, oh. The arboretum is accredited by the american alliance of museums. The mission of the organization is to advance and inspire a deeper understanding of plants to enhance life is achieved through science, education, and horticulture programs. The holden arboretum programs are integrated with those of the cleveland botanical garden, an urban botanical garden in the city of cleveland. The combined programming of two campuses with different geographies creates even more opportunity for impact in northeast ohio. The two organizations represent the 12th largest garden/arboretum in the united states. Organizationin fiscal year 2017 there was a change in executive leadership. Clem hamilton left the organization in february 2017, and a national search was conducted to find a new president and ceo. Paul abbey, formerly chairman of the board of directors, served as interim president and ceo from february to september. Jill koski was hired in late september 2017 to serve as the new president and ceo of the holden arboretum and cleveland botanical garden, d. B. A. Holden forests & gardens. Ms. Koski has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit field working with cultural institutions. Prior to joining the holden arboretum, she worked at the morton arboretum in lisle, il for more than ten years, and at shedd aquarium in chicago, il for ten years. The holden arboretum had continued growth in attendance, increasing by 13% to 202,000 visitors. The increase is primarily attributed to the canopy walk and emergent tower that opened in late 2015. The walk and tower show ongoing appeal to new audiences of all ages. Member households maintained at 20,000, largely driven by the new audiences for the canopy walk and emergent tower as well as the added benefit of admission to both the arboretum campus and the cleveland botanical garden campus. Research and living collectionsin fy17, research staff published 10 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals including american journal of botany, functional ecology, journal of applied ecology, landscape research and oecologia. Research staff presented 10 scientific lectures at universities and scientific meetings and presented 5 popular lectures to green industry professionals, garden clubs and holden members. Holden research continued to advance and improve partnerships with local institutions. Research staff furthered collaborations between holden and the cleveland metroparks including the metroparks zoo, case western reserve university (cwru), kent state university and cleveland state university. We are also exploring future collaborations with the wilds to explore potential research in restoration ecology. Holden staff continues to work to organize holden's extensive environmental and biological data sets in cooperation with other holden departments such as horticulture and conservation (aka "holden big data"). All library research holdings and plant accession records are now digitized and archived in the research "big data dropbox, and we are working on obtaining all published research conducted at holden by visiting researchers. Holden scientists served on graduate student committees for five ph. D. Students at case western reserve university (2), kent state university (2) and ohio state university (1). Holden hosted 17 undergraduate interns in the summer of 2016 on projects ranging from examining acid rain and forest health, to soil ecology and plant physiology. Research staff performed outreach to high school and middle school students in soil and plant ecology. Community forestryduring 2017, holden's community forestry program continued to expand its outreach efforts into northeast ohio and in particular the city of cleveland. Holden received a $500,000 grant from the cleveland foundation in fy 17 to advance community forestry programs through policy development and through creation of a work force development program called treecorps. Treecorps will train workers for a career in the tree care industry through classroom and active hand on learning during a nineteen-week program. Horticulture at the arboretum during the spring and fall planting seasons, there were 395 trees and shrubs planted, and over 1,167 herbaceous perennial plants planted. There are currently 5,256 taxa (species, varieties, cultivars) in the living plant collection, 3,447 of which are woody. The plant collections curator continued to provide horticultural information to the public year-round, and responded to 245 contacts during the year with questions on plant identification, landscape plant selection and sources, plant pests and diseases, horticultural practices and a range of related subjects. As a participant in the international seed exchange, holden nursery staff distributed 176 packets of seed representing 9 different species native to ohio on request and at no charge to 64 sister institutions in 24 countries around the world and 3 states within the u. S. Conservationthe conservation department continues its efforts to manage invasive plant species across all of holden's natural areas, and core. Garlic mustard and shrub and vine invasive plants including buckthorn, honeysuckle, privet, and asian bittersweet are primary target species. Staff continued a bat survey in stebbins gulch natural area initiated in 2016. The corning lake restoration project was also initiated in 2014 and work continued through 2017 to monitor the lake water quality in terms of nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and ph. Conservation staff is developing a management plan for holden's natural areas. This plan will guide future efforts in these areas to ensure that holden's forest are responsibly managed to conserve their health and diversity. A key component of this plan is the rapid upland forest assessment, developed by conservation staff and implemented at 130 sites in the stebbins gulch natural area in 2016 and an additional 70 in 2017. Staff also developed the spring ephemeral rapid assessment in 2015 as a complimentary tool for assessing forest plant communities and assessed stebbins gulch natural area in 2017. Conservation staff has documented the extent and severity of the emerald ash borer and the beech leaf disease within the stebbins gulch natural area. Conservation staff have also found beech leaf disease in all of holden's natural areas and continues to work with experts and partners to describe and determine the cause of this affliction which is still currently unknown.