Community Roots
“As a public arboretum, it is our policy in Los Angeles to become more intimately involved with the affairs of the community…An arboretum is different things to different people. We cannot take a purist or traditional attitude and justify our goals…We must serve the needs and the functions of the community we live in. Most of all, the Arboretum must be viable.”
–Excerpt from an early 1972 speech in Seattle by Francis Ching, who was appointed director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens on May 5, 1970.
The Arboretum strives to serve, enhance and build community through its programs, members and volunteers.
