Herbert E. Owen Native Plant Garden

The Herbert E. Native Plant Garden was built in 2012 as an educational resource for the Department of Biology at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.  It is named for Dr. Herb Owen who was a Professor of Biology at Fort Lewis College from 1955 to 1978 and was the founder of his department.  Dr. Owen started his teaching career at the old Fort Lewis A&M College campus near Hesperus, Colorado, and was one of the leaders in the transformation of the two-year college to a baccalaureate degree granting institution once it was moved to Durango.  One of his dreams for the college was to have a native plant garden on campus to be used as a teaching facility for the Biology Department.  Unfortunately, he died in 2005 and never saw his dream realized, but he did know of the early plans for a new biology building with an adjacent native plant garden named in his honor.  In addition to the teaching value of the garden, this 0.36-acre (0.15-hectare) facility is located on a major walkway and adds to the esthetic enjoyment of the campus by the public.  The garden collection contains primarily species from the high desert of the Four Corners area and foothills of Southwestern Colorado.