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July 27, 2000 Dear Friends of UC Santa Cruz: As you may be aware, there is current public discussion about prospective development on land adjacent to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. As often happens when a topic is controversial, misinformation about this issue has been afloat in various venues. I am writing now to provide the facts about the status of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum, to highlight some plans for university housing–and I want to emphasize that there are no plans to replace the Arboretum with housing. First, let me say that I greatly appreciate the personal and financial support that many of you have provided to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. Like you, I realize the Arboretum is a unique resource, deserving of special support. In fact, I envision a wonderful future for the Arboretum. For too long this treasure of Southern Hemisphere specimens and other important plantings has been inadequately appreciated by the campus and the general public. A "best-kept" secret whose time has come for wider exposure, our Arboretum deserves to be recognized as the botanical garden of the Monterey Bay region. By this, I mean that I anticipate the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum will be nationally known as a resource for scientists and the general public alike. It will be a living laboratory, where scholars in many disciplines will find a rich environment for study. It will be a site for children and their families to learn about some of nature’s most magnificent botanical specimens. And it will be a destination sought by people from all over the world for its beauty, unique setting, and splendid holdings. To transform this vision into reality, the campus is developing closer links between the Arboretum and the academic disciplines for which UC Santa Cruz is renowned. Three years ago, to help us move forward, I appointed a task force to assess the organizational status of the Arboretum. This distinguished group of botanists and other experts in arboretum operation was led by Roy L. Taylor, who was Executive Director, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, at that time. Members of the group included Ron Enomoto, Owner and Manager of Enomoto Roses, Half Moon Bay; Nancy R. Morin, Executive Director, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta; Steven L. Timbrook, Executive Director, Ganna Walska Lotusland, Santa Barbara; and Robert G. Breuning, Executive Director, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas. The conclusions of their study indicated the need for new administrative and governance structures to guide the Arboretum to its next level of distinction. More specifically, it recommended five actions: 1) effective integration of UC Santa Cruz Arboretum activities with the academic mission of the university; 2) increased attention to public education and outreach; 3) application of Arboretum resources to support conservation of native plants; 4) increased interface with the California horticulture industry; and 5) development of a financially realistic master plan for the future. Recently, the Arboretum received a grant to fund an organizational effectiveness assessment. With this financial support, UC Santa Cruz sponsored a second group of nationally prominent botanical garden directors to assess the progress made at the Arboretum over the past three years. Members of the group included Scot Medbury, Director, Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, San Francisco; Peter Olin, Director, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chanhassen, Minnesota; Kathleen Socolofsky, Committee Chair and Director of the UC Davis Arboretum; and Clement W. Hamilton, Executive Director, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA. The recommendations of this team echoed those of the earlier committee. In particular, they urged immediate engagement in an extensive planning process, in order to achieve the potential of the Arboretum. UC Santa Cruz soon will embark on this project–and there is a place in the planning process for you and everyone else who is interested. Moreover, when a final plan for this wonderful site is in place, we certainly will need the help of all of our friends to implement it. Even as UC Santa Cruz is embracing expanded opportunities for the Arboretum, we also are facing unprecedented challenges in local housing. UC Santa Cruz is competing with the country’s other prestigious universities to attract faculty and staff as we continue to build our academic programs. The current tight housing market is detrimental to this effort, and it affects our students as well. It is essential for the campus’s future that we move forward immediately with several housing projects. These housing projects also will allow us to keep our commitment to the local community to provide university-sponsored housing. UC Santa Cruz’s commitment to supply housing dates back to the mid-1980s. In September 1986, a City/University Housing Task Force recommended ambitious university housing goals. In 1988-89, following extensive community input and review, UC Santa Cruz adopted a Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) that included those goals. The campus is working to meet the housing development goals outlined in the LRDP and, at the same time, to provide our incoming employees and students with some relief from the pressures of the regional housing market. One of the areas defined for faculty and staff housing in the LRDP is among those now under preliminary study for development. This location is directly west of the main entrance to the campus, behind the Cook House and the Barn Theater. Known in the LRDP as Inclusion Area D, the site is adjacent to the Arboretum on the west and to the Farm & Garden on the north. In addition, there are several student housing projects in varying stages of development in other areas of the campus. Other feasible sites also are being considered for future housing. As campus planning moves forward, there will be opportunities for public participation and comment. In the meantime, if you wish to stay informed, please refer to the official UC Santa Cruz Arboretum web site (www2.ucsc.edu/arboretum/) and to the UC Santa Cruz site for planning, design, and construction (www2.ucsc.edu/ppc/). Let me say again that I am personally committed to supporting the advancement of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. I greatly appreciate your involvement and support, and I will keep you informed of the exciting plans for the Arboretum, as they evolve. Cordially yours, M.R.C. Greenwood Chancellor
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