Peter Raven, the internationally respected botanist, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden and a recipient of the National Medal of Science, attended a planning meeting with Arboretum staff and campus partners last month focusing on the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden initiative, a plan to transform campus plantings into sustainable teaching landscapes. Dr. Raven spoke enthusiastically about the project’s potential for educating students and visitors about the university, environmental science and global climate change:

“This is really an exciting moment. The campus is on the verge of dedicating itself to sustainability and environmental issues, with the Arboretum as the center of campus renewal. Building a Central Valley aesthetic is important. With human pressures all over the world, people are wondering how to reform land management. [The public garden initiative] is a great local experiment. This can be a model for the world—a pleasant, interactive campus, with a sense of community and place, a model for how to use land and form cities. I urge you to continue as intensely and rapidly as possible.” — Dr. Peter Raven

The opportunity to include both Drs. Peter and Pat Raven in our planning for this unique initiative was instrumental in meeting a variety of internal goals as well.

“Getting a vote of confidence from a world-renown botanist that our endeavor will succeed is huge. I am inspired to do everything I can to assemble a master plan for this campus that reinforces the connections between global biodiversity, sustainable agricultural systems and climate change.” — Bob Segar

“Informing the Ravens about our initiative and garnering their support has not only taken our initiative to the next level for our teams, it has worked to build further support from our academic partners, development partners, and the public garden community.” — Kathleen Socolofsky

The Ravens are so confident in the future success of our project, they donated artwork for our future ‘Discovery Center.’ The piece you see above was purchased at a recent California Native Plant Society auction and slated for a position in their home. Upon learning more about our initiative, they generously donated the piece in support of our mission. For them the piece represents the importance of biodiversity and the support of life in its many forms. We cannot thank them enough!

Read about the initiative and this event in the news:

• Sacramento Bee
• UC Davis Dateline