Fall quarter 2007 marked the inauguration of a new K College student club called the Stewards of the Arboretum. According to second-year Biology major and Arboretum Advisory Committee member Joe Warner the purpose of the club is two-fold: conservation and environmental education.

Over the long history of the conservation movement there has been a growing awareness that preventing the destruction of sensitive natural and historical features in our landscape is only the beginning. Features worth saving must also be maintained. The new club will devote its energies to the stewardship of one of K's most precious natural resources and to the promotion of the Arb as both a getaway from the campus "bubble" and a platform for promoting the value of environmental conservation.

Joe Warner was instrumental in establishing the club over the winter and it quickly attracted a talented slate of officers. Second-year Thom Nelson will be the first president and second-year Stephanie Jones will serve as Treasurer. Thom has already involved the Stewards in three new projects. First they will be building bee-boxes to encourage nesting of native wild bees. Bees are essential pollinators in all of our natural ecosystems and the recent, mysterious die-offs of imported European honeybees will make the role of our native bees that much more important.

Secondly, the Stewards hope to establish a monarch butterfly waystation in the Arboretum. Monarchs undergo a grueling annual migration from Mexico to their summer breeding areas in the northern United States and Canada. Along the way they feed on milkweed plants which, with urban sprawl and genetically engineered (and weed free) crops are becoming increasingly difficult to find. (For more on monarch waystations see the Links page on this web site).

The third project is a photo competition called Vernal Visions. Prizes for photos taken in the Arboretum will be awarded in several categories. Selected photos will be exhibited at Kalamazoo's June Art Hop. For more information on the contest contact Thom Nelson (k05tn01@kzoo.edu).

In addition to these special projects the Stewards plan to encourage and direct volunteers who carry out regular and much needed maintenance of the Arboretum property. In future they will be available for tours and educational events for members of the K community and also for the public at large.