The Arboretum at GovState

About the Arboretum

The Arboretum at GovState was created on April 29, 2022, when GovState received Level 1 Accreditation through ArbNet, a registry program developed by the Morton Arboretum to set standards and encourage the planting and conservation of trees.

To achieve Level 1 accreditation, a program must have:

• • An arboretum plan that defines its purpose and types of trees grown
• • An organizational structure
• • An arboretum collection of at least 25 labeled species of trees
• • Arboretum staff or volunteers
• • A public dimension such as an educational event each year

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Goals

The Arboretum has three main goals:

• 1. Serve as a living laboratory, providing a dynamic and engaging learning environment for students of all ages that emphasizes both Western science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
• 2. Promote health and wellness by encouraging reciprocity and the mutual flourishing of all GovState constituents, including its people, plants, land, and animals.
• 3. Integrate sustainability, ecological stewardship, and environmental justice into our program planning.

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Visit

Hours: Open Dawn to Dusk
Location: 1 University Parkway, University Park, IL, 60484 (Directions to GovState)

General Information for Visitors:

• • Parking is free in designated areas
• • Bathrooms are located inside the main campus building
• • Check the forecast before leaving. Sturdy shoes, pants, hats, sunglasses, bug spray, and sunscreen are recommended.
• • Leave flowers, grasses, leaves, and seeds as you found them
• • Throw away or recycle all trash
• • Picnic tables are available from May through October on a patio overlooking the lake near the university's D-Wing
• • Alcoholic beverages and smoking are strictly prohibited
• • Do not climb sculptures – They are works of art, not playground structures. Many of the works have already spent nearly half a century outdoors and are quite fragile

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Explore

• • Education
• ‣ Lesson Plans
• • Toddler Tree Themed Lesson Plans
• ‣ Tree Sensory Exploration
• ‣ Tree Collage Art Mural
• ‣ Tree and Nature Sensory Book
• ‣ Tree Parts Collage
• ‣ Story Walk
• ‣ Sculpture Park
• • Wellness
• ‣ Meditation Walk
• ‣ Exercise Walk
• ‣ Tree Meditation - Social Justice
• • Why meditate by a tree? Tree meditation is an easy way to calm stress and sharpen attention (both helpful for academic performance!). By sitting quietly with a tree and breathing slowly, we foster attunement with the steady presence of living nature. Through sustained practice over time, we can develop a mutual friendship with trees that result in greater habitat protection and reduced stress for humans and trees alike! Tree meditation is also relevant to social justice as we learn to relate across differences which become generative rather than harmful for collective care.
• • Trees
• ‣ American Hophornbeam
• ‣ American Linden
• ‣ Black Cherry
• ‣ Black Locust
• ‣ Blackgum
• ‣ Blue Spruce
• ‣ Burr Oak
• ‣ Chinkapin Oak
• ‣ Common Baldcypress
• ‣ Common Chokecherry
• ‣ Common Persimmon
• ‣ Downy Serviceberry
• ‣ Eastern Cottonwood
• ‣ Eastern Redbud
• ‣ Eastern White Pine
• ‣ Flowering Crabapple
• ‣ Ginkgo
• ‣ Green Ash
• ‣ Hawthorn Spp.
• ‣ Kentucky Coffeetree
• ‣ Northern Catalpa
• ‣ Northern Hackberry
• ‣ Northern Red Oak
• ‣ Osage-Orange
• ‣ Paper Birch
• ‣ Pin Oak
• ‣ Red Maple
• ‣ River Birch
• ‣ Shingle Oak
• ‣ Silver Maple
• ‣ Sugar Maple
• ‣ Swamp White Oak
• ‣ Thornless Honeylocust
• ‣ White Mulberry
• ‣ Yellow Birch

Download a Map of the Arboretum at GovState

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