Undergrads Develop First Management Plan for Houston Arboretum

You would expect fieldwork to be part of the curriculum for students in ecology and evolutionary biology, but where can that kind of research take place in an urban environment? If the urban environment is Houston, think the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center (HANC), where a group of Rice undergraduates has developed the organization’s first conservation management plan.

“This was quite an undertaking,” says Evan Siemann, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and HANC project guide. “The study included a large-scale ecological survey of the arboretum’s forests, grasslands, aquatic ecosystems, and trails. It’s the first time anything like this has been done at the facility, and the arboretum expects to use the information to make management decisions for many years to come.”

Established in 1951, the 155-acre nature center—the largest in the city—is located at the western edge of Memorial Park, whose southern border is Buffalo Bayou. Under an agreement with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the arboretum operates as an independent nonprofit agency. Its mission is to provide education about the natural environment to people of all ages and to protect and enhance the property as a sanctuary for native plants and animals.

“We are dedicated to providing a quiet, serene place where Houstonians can get closer to nature and contemplate the world we live in,” says Debbie Markey, executive director of HANC, which serves an estimated 200,000 visitors annually and provides nature education programs for more than 10,000 children each year. “As a nonprofit, we rely on dedicated volunteers like Dr. Siemann and his students to make our mission a living reality. They gave generously of their time and knowledge, and they’ve given us a set of recommendations that are very valuable for future planning.”

The arboretum first contacted Siemann in late 2004 to inquire about the possibility of his conducting research at the facility. An expert on the impact of invasive species on native forest ecosystems, Siemann recalls being intrigued by the possibilities. “There just aren’t that many large tracts of large, undeveloped forest within the confines of the city,” he explains. “It was really a perfect setting.”

And it was a natural fit for the arboretum, too, since the organization didn’t have a budget that would support traditional research. Siemann was teaching a course on conservation biology at Rice the following semester, so enlisting the students and making the real-world study an integral part of the class seemed like an obvious choice. For the 28 students in Siemann’s course, the study expanded the scope of the lessons well beyond lectures and textbooks. Adding the real-world element, particularly in the arboretum, where conservation management was both needed and valued, led to a heartfelt commitment by the students.

“We went into it as an assignment but we came out with more than just a grade,” says senior James Lloyd. “It’s rare to have the chance to take your class work and apply it to real-world problems and really make an impact. It was an eye-opening experience.”

The management plan was presented to the arboretum’s board of directors last fall. A board member himself, Siemann said the group was very receptive to the science and recommendations presented for improving the ecological health of the arboretum. Those recommendations included removing invasive shrubs to allow seedling trees to thrive; eliminating some trails to create larger, contiguous areas of forest; implementing measures to make the arboretum’s grasslands more attractive to native species; establishing more detailed studies of the arboretum’s rodent population; controlling visitor access to enhance vegetation growth on pond shorelines; and constructing a new pond to meet high visitor demand.

Growing up in Houston, Lloyd has visited the arboretum regularly since he was a toddler, but the experience of working on the management plan left him with a deeper bond to the preserve and an appreciation of its benefits to the community. “I will always know,” he says, “that I have a connection with the arboretum beyond just being a visitor.”

—Jade Boyd