Protecting the Environment | Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (2024)

Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center

• Established in 2016, this Farm at the Arb destination won an AIA COTE Top Ten Award from the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment for its sustainable design excellence — one of the industry’s best-known awards programs of its kind.
• Sustainable features include a metal roof, long-life Accoya wood cladding, radiant heating and cooling systems, a geothermal field and solar panels. In addition to being sustainably built, the center educates all ages about the key role that pollinators play in our ecosystem, using learning spaces, an apiary, a honey house and pollinator gardens with interpretive signage.
• In 2024, a solar array was added to the roof, thanks to an in-kind donation by Ziegler Companies’Ziegler Energy Solutions, a Bloomington-based family-owned company whose divisions focus on solar and agriculture equipment.

Oswald Visitor Center

• When it opened in 2005, this 45,000-square-feet Arboretum hub was one of the largest public buildings in Minnesota to use geothermal technology. By tapping into the natural temperatures just below the Earth's surface, this heating and cooling source is a free, renewable and low-impact system and a sustainable alternative to burning fossil fuels.
• Across the Arboretum campus, energy use is also reduced in many buildings and exterior lamp posts, thanks to an ever-increasing array of LED bulbs.

• Better biking access:Thanks to a new, 2-mile regional trail connection, completed in 2021, cyclists can now access the Arboretum by the Highway 5 Regional Trail. This new stretch of trail runs via Minnewashta Parkway, past the Arboretum gatehouse and to the Highway 41 underpass, connecting to more than 100 miles of trails to the east and west, including the local trail systems of Chanhassen and Victoria. Highlights include a 14-foot-wide, 1,000-foot boardwalk that travels over wildlife-rich wetlands at the Arboretum, which offers a gatehouse discount for admission $20 (instead of $25) for ages 16 and older. Bicyclists can use Three-Mile Drive to explore the grounds and use bike racks at key stopping points near gardens and buildings.

• Integrated Pest Management:A major goal at the Arboretum is to reduce damage from destructive pests and invasive plants while protecting the environment. Biological controls — including mitigating pest populations with their natural enemies — are used whenever possible as an alternative to toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
• Invasive species:Work is ongoing to contain major invasive plant species such as purple loosestrife, crown vetch and leafy spurge, using biological controls whenever possible. Research is currently underway at the University of Minnesota to help with the control of other invasive species such as buckthorn and garlic mustard.
• Jumping worm research:The Arboretum, including Plant Health Specialist Erin Buchholz and Assistant Professor Brandon Miller, is deeply involved in research regarding invasive and destructive jumping worms, which impact soils in nursery containers, natural lands and managed landscapes, including homeowner yards. Recent work includes projects funded by theMinnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plant and Pests Center at the U of M, theHorticultural Research Institute (HRI), Minnesota Department of Agriculture’sSpecialty Crop Block Grant program and theLegislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. Key collaborators include U of M Soil, Water, and Climate Professor Kyungsoo Yoo and Vera Krischik from theU of M Department of Entomology.
  

• Food waste composting: All cups, lids, straws, plates, bowls and to-go containers in the Arboretum’s Rootstock cafe are made of corn-based resin and are fully biodegradable within 45 days. Food waste and biodegradable serviceware from the cafe are composted on-site and used in Arboretum gardens.
• Horticultural waste composting: Horticultural waste at the Arboretum is composted on-site.

• Water conservation:Staff at the Arboretum relies almost entirely on surface water to keep its 1,200 acres hydrated with the exception of the Farm at the Arb food gardens, which requires water from the city of Chaska. Well water is used minimally and drip irrigation is used when possible.
• Sustainable salt: Hot water in the Arboretum buildings is softened using salts that are delivered by a local family business, Minnesota Salt Co., which swaps out reusable buckets instead of using non-recyclable 40-pound bags.