Arboretum certification underway in Clinton
By Randy Bell
Steve Dicke and Donna Yowell examine a persimmon tree at the Clinton Visitor Center as part of an effort to designate the center as a certified arboretum.
Clinton has a lot of trees, but not a single arboretum that’s certified by the Mississippi Urban Forest Council.
That’s about to change.
On September 11, the Council’s executive director, Donna Yowell, and arborist/forester Steve Dicke walked the grounds at the Clinton Visitor Center doing an inventory of the trees.
“You have to have thirty native species [to qualify for certification],” Yowell noted, indicating that the Visitor Center would have no trouble meeting the quota. The same is expected to be true of the trees at the Quisenberry Library and in several Clinton neighborhoods. And the Council will also designate the City’s most famous forest, the Clinton Community Nature Center, as a certified arboretum.
Yowell said it’s an important undertaking.
“When you’ve got a lot of quality greenspace in a community, it’s all about the quality of life and making it a very charming and healthy community to live in.”
And there’s a reason the focus is on trees which are accustomed to life in Mississippi.
“Native trees have a lot of benefit over other trees, in that they tolerate our soils and our climate much better,” she said. “So, they’re going to typically last longer. And, of course, native trees support pollinators and wildlife habitat.”
According to Yowell, the certifications will help to promote eco-tourism in Clinton.
“A lot of these kinds of projects bring in visitors that spend money.”
Each arboretum will be required to have an educational component.
“We will put signage on each of the sites,” she said. “We will either have [a map] online or a brochure that you can actually walk around with to identify the trees and learn more about native trees.”
Touring an arboretum could give homeowners some ideas on the kind of trees to plant in their yards.
The City hired Yowell to seek grants to help beautify the community.
“[The arboretum certification] is just one phase of all the conservation projects we’re doing,” she points out. “Our overall goal for Clinton is to create a ‘Conservation City,’ so there are these nature projects and outdoor projects throughout the city, so that Clinton becomes a model city in that arena for other cities, hopefully, to replicate.”
