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Animals

A Sneak Peek at the Dallas Arboretum’s $50 Million Expansion

By Tim Rogers |
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ArborTowerFor lunch today I had the pleasure of dining not only with Wick but with Arboretum president Mary Brinegar, VP of education Maria Conroy, and Robert L. Thornton, whose name you might recognize not only because it’s on a highway but because the guy is such a serial volunteer that he was given the Linz Award in 2000. The setting of the meeting: Brinegar’s charming office in the Arboretum’s Camp House, with a fire going in the fireplace and about as beautiful a view as you can get in Dallas, the blue waters of the lake made choppy by the breeze and the white columns of the old Hunt estate standing on the far shore. (Yes, Jim Schutze, this is how it happens.)

Wick and I paid the visit to learn more about the Arboretum’s new $50 million Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden (a model of which you see pictured above). Knowing a thing or two about a thing or two, I had heard about this garden’s impending construction. They will break ground in March and hope to have construction finished in 2013. I confess that my uninformed opinion of the project, prior to lunch, was, essentially: feh, sounds pretty. But now that Conroy has given me a virtual tour of a scale model of the 7-acre garden and its 16 outdoor “learning rooms,” I’m psyched out of my mind. It’s just one of those ideas where you’re, like — YES!

ArborWickSeriously, this thing is going to be a big deal. It’ll transform the Arboretum and — all due respect to the fine work they’ve already accomplished — make it a national destination. They asked me to be coy about some details, as other organizations are already trying to scout the Arboretum’s designs with an eye toward borrowing certain features. But I can tell you it will have: a stream you can walk under; a waterfall; an orchard and vineyard; an elevated skywalk through a tree canopy; wetlands; a garden maze; and solar-powered guns that allow visitors to activate water spouts. The entire thing, with the help of SMU’s Simmons School of Education, has been designed not just to look pretty but to create an immersive experience where kids will learn about the natural world. It actually sounds more like the Museum of Nature and Science than it does the Arboretum.

ArborPotAll of which is to say that you should start getting excited now. Oh, and Brinegar, who quite amazingly raised $49 million in about two years for the project, could still use a few more dollars. If you’d like to talk about making a donation, I’m sure she’d feed you lunch.

CAPTIONS: (from top, click to make bigger) To give you perspective, the adult figures you see in the model are designed to be 6 feet tall, to scale. IMAGE 1 — the terminus of the elevated skywalk. In the foreground are areas where children can learn about wind, solar, and water power. IMAGE 2 — Wick surveys the entire 7 acres, scouting for the best site on which to erect his fishing lodge. IMAGE 3 — This is probably one of those things that Brinegar doesn’t want me to describe in too much detail. But that potted flower you see in the center stands about 20 feet tall.

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