Approximately 80 people gathered to break ground, hear speakers and drummers, and participate in a Native American blessing of the land.
“It took many people working over many decades to get us where we are today,” said Rod Sayler, associate professor of natural resource sciences and chairman of the Arboretum and Wildlife Conservation Center Committee. “It is a very good day for WSU.”
Phase 1 of the project focuses on creation of about two miles of trails as well as construction of a “gathering circle”, a meeting place in the heart of the arboretum.
In 2007, President Elson S. Floyd provided an opportunity for a 100-acre arboretum to be established on the eastern edge of the Pullman campus. WSU Capital Planning and Development coordinated a planning committee to develop a master plan for a site that has been managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than 60 years.
The site and vision has expanded to 170 acres and includes facilities for grizzly bears and wild herbivores. Plans call for a biodiversity center, an outdoor raptor amphitheater and demonstration gardens.
Dan Bernardo, dean of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences – the academic home for the center – credited Floyd with helping to make the vision a reality.
“Dr. Floyd understands the importance of a university having a space like this,” Bernardo said. “Not only as a place for teaching, research and extension, but also for our community and state – as a place to serve as a cornerstone for the visitor’s experience of WSU.”
“I applaud WSU for continuing to honor its origins as a land-grant university by providing a place for practical education,” said Sam Penny, Nez Perce tribal chairman. He called the project “a great educational tool.”