UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- If you would like to know what the future holds for The Arboretum at Penn State, put on your walking shoes. The public is invited to an open house at the future site of the Arboretum from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 6. Penn State faculty and staff will welcome visitors and offer 30-minute presentation tours of the site. The presentation tours will run continuously during the open house. Topics to be covered are development plans for the arboretum, a new survey of wild plants in the arboretum, restoration of a prairie patch and valley-floor woodland habitat, construction of an air quality education center, and water protection issues. The Arboretum at Penn State will be located on a 395-acre tract north of campus between Park Avenue and the Mount Nittany Expressway, the last undeveloped piece of land adjacent to the university's main campus. Features will range from curated collections of trees, shrubs and other plants to the development of natural plant communities and agricultural research and demonstration areas. A 20,000-square-foot education center will include classrooms, meeting rooms, and an outdoor patio garden for gatherings, displays and arts performances. Near the education center will be a conservatory and a large, landscaped area containing display and demonstration gardens.

"The arboretum site is a beautiful, secluded area, tucked away right next to the Penn State campus," says Kim Steiner, arboretum director and professor of forest biology. "Folks are so surprised when they see this treasure hidden right in our midst." According to Steiner, the facility will be dedicated to teaching, research and outreach on such themes as gardening, conservation, environmentally sensitive landscape development and management, and restoration of degraded forests and fields. "It also will be a wonderful cultural addition to the university and the community," he says.

The Arboretum at Penn State will be the first institutional botanical garden and arboretum between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Realization of these plans will depend upon private donations. For more information on the arboretum or to make donations, call Kim Steiner at 814-865-9351. Open house visitors traveling from Rt. 322 should take the Penn State/Research Park exit onto Park Avenue and travel past Beaver Stadium. Turn right onto Bigler Road. Parking will be available in the lot on the right. From there, participants will board shuttles to the welcome area in the southwest end of Big Hollow, just below Sunset Park. Shuttles will run continuously from 12:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. For more information about the open house, call 814-865-9118 or visit the Web at http://www.cas.psu.edu.

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EDITORS: Kim Steiner can be reached at 814-865-9351 or by e-mail at steiner@psu.edu.

Editor: Jennifer MacIsaac 814-865-3636 jlm19@psu.edu