Arboretum News and Events

Join Mayor Huether and us on Tuesday, September 14th at 11:30 a.m. as the Sioux Falls Development Foundation will be hosting our ground breaking ceremony. Use the Perry Nature Area entrance, we'll be near the upper picnic shelter.

After many years of planning and anticipation, we're about to embark on Phase One of our construction. Please join us as we kick off this exciting project.

The Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum and East Sioux Falls Historic Site will again host Arbor Day festivities for the city of Sioux Falls, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Friday, April 30th. This site is located one half mile east of Arrowhead Park on east Highway 42. Use the Perry Nature Area entrance, upper picnic shelter.

This event recognizes the importance of trees and green space in communities. Third graders from Terry Redlin Elementary will plant trees in honor of Arbor Day and the planned construction of the arboretum, which is set to begin August 2010.

Mayor Dave Munson will open the brief program at 1:00 p.m. The public is invited to this event. Please plan on attending.

The total species count was 280: mammals, birds, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates and plants. This number is from an effort of eleven scientists from regional educational facilities including SDSU, USD, USDA, USF, Augustana, Dakota Wesleyan University and Lincoln High School. 5 aquatic invertebrates, 110 insects, 7 land snails, 5 spiders and other invertebrates, 2 amphibians, 3 reptiles, 48 birds, 16 fishes, 7 mammals and 77 plant species were all located during our brief 4 hour time span. That number represents over one species found every 1 minute.

A full BioBlitz takes place over a 24-hour period because different organisms are likely to be found at different times of the day. Similar to our event, other organizations have elected to host this event over a short time period, with less accurate results. However, still providing valuable information we were very pleased with our results. Future events will involve similar themes and diversity of age groups.

What is a BioBlitz? A BioBlitz is an educational program and a scientific survey all combined into one days event. The objective for the scientists to count all the species of plants and animals they can find in a given area in a fixed amount of time.

You are welcome to walk around the Arboretum property (East of Willow Run Golf Course on Highway 42) and interact with the scientists collecting data.

Other activities include:

10:00am and noon - Guided bird hikes (approx. 1 hour) meet at the maintenance shed

10:00am - Kevin Gansz, Siouxland Heritage Museum will present "History of East Sioux Falls and Quarry"

10:00am - 2:00pm - Great Plains ZooMobile

1:00pm - Jared McGovern, Outdoor Campus "Plants and Animals of the Big Sioux River Valley" guided tour. (approx. 35-45 minute hike)

2:00pm - Final species count (West picnic shelter)

Buffaloberries Select Ingredient Bar will have lunch items available for purchase.

Sioux Falls Green Project will be promoting GREEN ideas.

Bring the whole family for FREE FUN & EDUCATION.

Enjoy lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. musical entertainment will be provided by the Washington High School Concert Choir. A brief program will start at 12:15 p.m. Following our guest speakers, Mayor Dave Munson, Minnehaha County Commissioner Anne Hajek, Professor Emeritus of History Dr. Gary Olson and University of Sioux Falls biology professor Keith Perkins tree planting will begin. Third grade students from Terry Redlin Elemenatry School will plant three bur oak trees in honor of Arbor Day and the planned construction of the arboretum, which is set to begin in 2010.

The public is invited to this event, please plan on attending.

Trees and community foundations just go together. Both grow deep roots to stand the test of time and return valuable resources to their surroundings, year after year.

Small wonder, then, that Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation helps donors develop so many parks in our area. This winter, SFACF and a start-up nonprofit are planting seeds that will flourish over generations, as a $1.6 million capital campaign gets underway for the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum & East Sioux Falls Historic Site.

The Community Foundation has been part of Arboretum plans nearly from the start. In late 2005, SFACF brought together members of the citizens' group Sioux Falls Beautiful and arranged a lead gift from the Karl Wegner Family. Acting on the Family's behalf and on the promise of a deferred gift that one day will enhance and maintain the landscape arboretum, SFACF worked with the City to secure park naming rights in memory of Mary Jo Wegner a wife, mother, and arboretum advocate.

Less than three years later, the Wegner Arboretum Society landed a slot on the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce's Community Appeals schedule. SFACF is providing backoffice support for the fundraising effort, which kicked off in November and runs through March 31, 2009.

The fact that the City of Sioux Falls has set aside matching money in the Capital Improvements Program budget makes this a true public-private partnership, says Jeff Scherschligt, the campaign's chairman and a member of the Society's board. "That allows us to leverage donor contributions with public dollars and really do something incredible that's good for our community and also will draw tourists from the region." Scherschligt and other Society members are collaborating with Minnehaha County officials and private landowners to acquire the park's full 115 acres. Portions will overlap the East Sioux Falls town site, where early settlers quarried the rosecolored stone that still adorns many of downtown's most familiar landmarks.

The Arboretum complements the City's existing green spaces, most notably the Arrowhead nature area gifted to the community by Dale and Dorothy Weir through SFACF. The two parks, which lie along Highway 42 east of Sioux Falls, will be joined by an underpass and linked to Great Bear Recreation Park via an 11-mile spur of the bike trail.

The master concept for the Arboretum highlights native plants and those brought to the site by various peoples during the area's history. Bur oaks, the symbol of the Arboretum, already stand at the site, and plans call for themed gardens, prairie grasses and flowers, and interpretive trails guiding visitors to the still-visible remnants of the old quarry town.

Eighteen acres of festival grounds will invite community celebrations and family gatherings alike. And, at the Arboretum's main entrance, a re-creation of East Sioux Falls' distinctive, L-shaped schoolhouse will serve as both a welcome center and a hands-on classroom.

The site's unique history and educational potential are major parts of its allure. Places such as the Arboretum "get kids away from the computer and out into nature," Scherschligt says.

Minnehaha County Commissioner Carol Twedt championed the project during a late summer press conference to announce the campaign, saying the Arboretum "will be to Sioux Falls what Central Park is to New York City."

Scherschligt hopes donors will share that grand vision despite recent market uncertainties, and make good on the campaign slogan promise, "A Path to Yesterday and Tomorrow."

"It's a very compelling project at a difficult time," Scherschligt says. "But you don't quit when things get hard. More than any other time, that's when we need to keep showing the positive results that can come when people work together."