City of Columbia Missouri

P.O. BOX 6015
COLUMBIA, MO 65205

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 31, 2017

CONTACT: Tammy Miller, Parks and Recreation
573-874-7465

Stephens Lake Park Awarded Level II Accreditation as Arboretum

(COLUMBIA, MO) -

Columbia Parks and Recreation's Stephens Lake Park has been awarded a Level II accreditation by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and the Morton Arboretum.

This accreditation was earned for achieving high standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens, including planning, governance, public access, programming and tree science, planning and conservation.

Stephens Lake Park houses numerous plantings, such as the red bud, oak, conifer and nut tree collections, as well as two waterfall gardens and three rain gardens. The park's Children's Grove features ornamental trees such as magnolias and crabapples. The Darwin and Axie Hindman Discovery Garden features native and ornamental plantings in four themed areas.

Parks and Recreation staff is developing an overall plan for the park for future plantings, such as a native Missouri tree and shrub collection, among many others.

The accreditation helps facilitate interaction between Parks and Recreation staff and an international community of arboreta and tree related professionals to share resources and educational opportunities. This will help achieve the mission of the Stephens Lake Park Arboretum, which is to provide citizens of Columbia and visitors a place of recreation, beauty, peace and education through its plantings and care of ornamental, native, rare and unusual trees.

The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta at various levels of development. Stephens Lake Park 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.

For more information, call Columbia Parks and Recreation at 573-874-7460.



City of Columbia Vision
Columbia is the best place for everyone to live, work, learn and play.

City of Columbia Mission
To serve the public equitably through democratic, transparent and efficient government.

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