Sugar House Park Authority (SHPA) is in the process of preparing Sugar House Park to submit for a Level 1 arboretum accreditation through Arbnet.org
The Level 1 accreditation has five (5) requirements, which are:
Arboretum Plan
Organizational or governance group
25+ labeled tree and woody plant taxa
Paid staff or volunteer support
Public access and at least one event per year
Steps and Action Taken
Sugar House Park already met several of the criteria items, including being a public space with management staff. In 2024, the Sugar House Park Authority approved a conceptual arboretum plan and agreed to take on the role of the arboretum's organizational/governance group. Later in the year, Salt Lake County Park Development Park Manager and Licensed Arborist, Dustin Wiberg walked with Sugar House Park Board Member, Roxy Christensen to select the initial thirty-five specimen trees to be included in the Level 1 application.
Help us grow the arboretum!
We need community and neighborhood volunteers on Saturday, March 8, 2025, 1 – 4 PM for Mulch Madness, an event led by TreeUtah to remove grass and add mulch rings around the specimen trees. Mulch Madness follows a larger-scale tree care on the specimen trees to prune, thin, and shape. Work was completed by SavATree between January and February 2025.
Sign up for event reminders and R.S.V.P on Facebook.
Final Tasks
The final steps, will be to install a tree tag —with the common name, genus, and species on each tree. Simultaneously Salt Lake County is creating a geographic-based map of the arboretum for use by visitors to navigate to the trees and learn more about the characteristics of each species.
Submission & Review
The documentation and preparation of the application to Arbnet.org will be submitted by the end of March 2025 followed by 4-6 weeks for review. The Park Authority hopes to celebrate accreditation by the end of April 2025. Sign up for the Sugar House Park Newsletter to learn the results.
Project Funding
The work required to prepare for accreditation is made possible in part by the 2023-2024 Community Forestry Partnership Grant Program awarded to the Sugar House Park Arboretum Start-up by the Utah Division of Natural Resources Forest, Fire, and State Lands and the David R. Keller Sustainability Prize from Utah Valley University Center for the Study of Ethics. The remaining balance of the work will be covered by in-kind volunteer hours and monetary funds approved by the Sugar House Park Authority.
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