Open during construction!

As the holiday season approaches and guests start traveling to town, please remember that the Arboretum is open during construction!

We’re still finishing up Phase One of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project, but the construction fencing located in T. Elliot Weier Redwood Grove and Lake Spafford areas is now removed! We expect the pump controller to be programmed by the end of November. Once it is ready, we can turn the pump on and see the water flow over the weirs.  If the weather holds out, you can also expect to see some new plants getting planted around the weirs in December.

The construction dam is down and water is now back in parts of the phase one project area. (Phase one of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project extends from the easternmost portion of the waterway all the way to Wyatt Deck near Lake Spafford.) We're now working with contractors to test and optimize the pump system, which is an essential part of the waterflow in the Arboretum Waterway.

Four out of the five weirs for Phase 1 of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project are complete, and the last weir should be finished by the end of September. This means we are very close to being able to return water to the channel and watch the water flow over the new weirs and through the wetland plantings.

The first weir has been built. Now it has walls, a spillway, and wetland retaining walls on the upstream and downstream sides of the weir. This series of weirs, along with the pump and underground pipe that will move water along the length of the project, are the structures that will transform the Arboretum Waterway from a flat pond to a flowing waterway.

More updates on the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project: splash pad concrete poured, weir creation begins, new Learning by Leading Student Co-Coordinators

Updates on the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project: unexpected rainfall, new pump delivered, new path being constructed

The Arboretum Waterway is not only the centerpiece of the Arboretum; it is an essential piece of our campus’s water infrastructure. Despite its high-profile importance, the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden has never had a staff member actively managing it, until now! Please welcome to our staff Waterway Steward Nina Suzuki!

Major updates about Phase 1 of the Arboretum Waterway Maintenance and Enhancement Project, including a temporary dam, our new waterway steward, our successful Waterway WOW! campaign, sediment removal, bank reshaping and more!