The Arboretum presently has some unusual specimens for the area such as balsam fir and English walnut, and several old growth trees. The local Vocational Agricultural Program uses the campus to teach high school students tree and plant identification.
A Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapof the arboretum grounds and the field and maintenance area was constructed by several students at Missouri State. Dr. Monika Moskal's Digitalphotogrammetry and GIS (GRY552) class project began the work in Spring of 2005 followed by Dr. Michelle Bowe, co-curator of the Ozarks Herbarium and summer student intern Brandi Parsley identifying the trees and entering them into an Excel database to later be integrated into the GIS system ArcGIS. Jerry Weimer, a graduate student in biology, integrated the GIS data with field measurements to create a map of the arboretum. Elizabeth Barnhart, a graduate student in geology, geology and planning, generated an ARC MAP of the area and created a poster of the arboretum. With the help of Derek Martin, Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute, we are learning to update the Arc Map database as trees are planted and removed.
A brochure with tree map and key are available at the State Fruit Experiment Station.
For further information, contact:
Marilyn Odneal
417-547-7513
MarilynOdneal@missouristate.edu