University of Washington Campus Arboretum

The University of Washington was carved out of a forest of trees, where reminisce of its grandeur still exist today at the campus edges.  Surrounded by water and hills, the University consists of a mosaic of landscape types, each providing important environmental services that as a whole comprise a robust example of the Northwest Ecotones: Conifer forest, deciduous forests, wetlands, steep and shallow slopes, and grasslands.  The Urban forest on campus is not only comprised of trees, but is experienced as the juxtaposition of all the vegetated layers; lawns, planter beds, groves, and shrubs against the architecture and surround context.  The university’s diverse urban forest connects generations of Alumni with memorial and historic trees.  It is the organization and relationship between these multiple pieces that give the university its iconic campus landscape.