The Greenwich Town Arboretum was awarded a Level II Accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum, for achieving standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens. The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta at various levels of development, capacity, and professionalism. The Greenwich Town Arboretum is also now recognized as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens dedicated to woody plants.
During the past ten years the Greenwich Tree Conservancy has been working with the Town of Greenwich in a public/private partnership in the greening of our urban forest, planting over 3,100 trees on public land.
The roots of the Greenwich Town Arboretum began in Bruce Park located on 60 acres along the south side of Interstate 95. Greenwich’s oldest public park was established in 1908 through a bequest of Robert Moffat Bruce. The 125-acre Greenwich Town Arboretum began in 2017, by mapping, cataloging, and tagging town trees in Bruce Park. When completed, the Arboretum will include: Bruce Park, Binney Park, Byram Park and the Montgomery Pinetum.
The Town Arboretum is managed by the Greenwich Department of Parks and Recreation, the Division of Parks and Trees and the Greenwich Tree Conservancy (GTC).
GTC’s Executive Director, JoAnn Messina stated, “Becoming an Internationally Accredited Arboretum Level II shines a light on the environmental assets that the Town of Greenwich has and the historic significance of our community forest which includes both public and private land. Greenwich has over 100 trees listed in the Connecticut Notable Tree Project, which includes CT’s largest and most historic trees. With this richness of historic forest resources the GTC encourages our community to preserve our natural assets, practice stewardship of resources and to plant trees that future generations can enjoy.”
For more information, visit greenwichtreeconservancy.org
