A very large section in the eastern end of the arboretum fell out of active management in the 1980s, and has since become covered in invasive buckthorn and autumn olive trees that provide little food for wildlife and crowd out all other plant life. In late January, we began removing 2.5 acres of these trees, beginning the long process of transforming this degraded part of the arboretum into a beautiful, diverse forest.

But before grinding all this into wood-chips and re-planting with native trees, we needed to take stock of what's there now so we can measure our progress in the coming years. Here, arboretum curator T'ai Roulston collects data about the number and size of invasive trees in the area. Stay tuned for more photos as this project continues!