A UCD Arboretum?
University College Dublin's Belfield and Blackrock campuses and Lyons farm are home to more than 20,000 trees. The trees at UCD form the framework of the natural campus. Many of the UCD's mature trees date from the late 18th and early 19th century, recording vestiges of the estates and villas which now comprise the campuses.
Since its development as a university, intensive tree planting has taken place, with new areas of woodland created each year, expanding the original woodland, as well as hedgerows, specimen tree planting and avenues. Mature trees have been retained to enhance new development and great efforts have been made to ensure that these trees continue to thrive.
The campus has developed into a mature parkland landscape, facilitating outdoor research and learning and providing recreational spaces for students, staff and the public, as well as a diverse range of habitats for wildlife.
UCD is in the process of preparing an application for (opens in a new window)Arboretum Accreditation. As an accredited arboretum, UCD would join an international community of arboreta working towards higher levels of professional standards, and opening opportunities for international collaboration on scientific, collections and conservation activities.
The UCD Arboretum will have the overall purpose to develop and maintain collections that will provide teaching and public educational resources, inform and generate new research, provide beauty, biodiverse habitats and recreational spaces and help plan and evolve the future treescape at UCD.