Revitalizing the Arboretum habitat

	Dredging the Arboretum pond will improve habitat diversity.

Two major projects to increase habitat diversity, redesign public space and improve forest health at the Arboretum will be undertaken this year at a cost of nearly $200,000.

The first project, renovation of the landscape around the outdoor theater, has already started. A number of arborvitae and Eastern hemlocks are being removed and replaced by a variety of native shrubs and trees, including sugar maple, oak, laurel and rhododendron.

According to Glenn Dreyer, the Charles and Sarah P. Becker '27 Director of the Arboretum, the hemlocks, which were planted in 1933, are slowly dying due to a hemlock woolly adelgid infestation – first seen in Connecticut in the mid-1980s. The infestation continues despite regular spraying with horticultural oil.

The second project, the draining and partial dredging of the man-made, freshwater Arboretum pond, is scheduled for this summer. A portion of the north end of the pond will be dredged to 10 feet. Most of it will remain two to three feet deep. The variety of depths will allow for a range of water temperatures, which improves habitat diversity. Currently, the shallow pond is completely covered by white water lily plants during the growing season.

The pond, built by the college in the 1920s as a place for students to ice skate, is a magnet for both visitors and wildlife. A boardwalk for the western end of the deepened area has been proposed, which would allow access to both deep and shallow water habitats for college classes, other educational programs and visitors.

Some of the mud taken out of the pond will be used to increase the slope of the theater to improve its usability. The theater will be re-seeded in the fall, and replacement plantings will be completed in spring 2008.

The dredging is conditional on receiving permits. The project will be funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, matched by a bequest from Priscilla Pasco '39, a CC botany major who lived in Kennebunkport, Maine.

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