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University of California, Riverside
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History of the UCR Botanic Gardens
The Erickson Directorship, 1973-1981
The eight years under the leadership of Dr Louis C. Erickson, Professor of Botany was a period of steady growth and development. He gave higher priority than the previous directors to display and specialty plantings of interest to schools, community groups and the general public. Without neglecting the teaching and research objectives of the Gardens, he felt that greater public visibility was needed if the Gardens were to serve better the University's public service mission and to generate private support. To this end, he obtained signs which were located at several strategic places on the campus, directing visitors to the Gardens. He also prepared a map of the Gardens for distribution to visitors and started keeping the Gardens open on weekends. At first (1973), Mr. Kucera and Professor Erickson took turns keeping the Gardens open two Sundays a month. The favorable response persuaded Vice Chancellor Van Perkins to provide funds (1974) for student help to keep the Gardens open all weekends. In 1974, Professor Erickson prevailed on three avid bird watchers (Ken Arakawa, Richard Green, and Eugene Cardiff) to compile a list of "Birds of UCR Botanic Gardens and Vicinity." Professor Lee Brown in Biology was asked to prepare a collection of insects for display. Professor Erickson began developing the cactus and succulent gardens, the iris garden, followed by the rose garden, the herb garden, and the lilac and daylily collections, among others, as displays of interest to many visitors.
The development of the cactus and succulent gardens was greatly accelerated, beginning in 1973, with the dedicated volunteer help of Col. (Ret.) Leo Pickoff and his wife, Lillian. They not only donated hundreds of plants, but assisted with planting and maintenance throughout the period of Erickson's stewardship and beyond.
The iris garden was started in 1973 with personal collections of named cultivars donated by Professor Erickson and by Mr. Harry Tate, a local iris hybridizer. This large collection of about 150 iris cultivars has become a very colorful and popular display feature of the Gardens during April and May each year, when they reach their peak bloom.
In 1975, the rose garden was begun with the support of such groups as the Riverside Rose Society, the Rancho Rose Study Group, and individuals like Mrs. Zelda Lloyd and others. The Jackson and Perkins Company and a rose hybridist, Mr. Robert Lindquist generously donated hundreds of plants, which include varieties of florabundas, hybrid teas, miniatures, and other types. It presents a wonderful display of color throughout most of the year. In addition, it serves to screen varieties for adaptability to local conditions and to provide material for outreach programs on rose culture. Beginning about 1979, rose pruning demonstrations have been given every winter.
A formal herb garden was begun in 1976. Such organizations as the Inland Herb Society, the Long Beach Herb Society, the Southern California Unit of the Herb Society of America, and several private donors contributed hundreds of plants, brick for walks, benches, other materials, labor, and money needed for its development. The president of the Inland Herb Society, Mr. Nick Waddell, vigorously promoted this project.
In 1977, a collection of lilac cultivars was established for display purposes as well as screening for those best adapted as landscape plants in the Riverside area. Dr. Joe Margaretten, of Leona Valley, California, contributed many cultivars to the collection.
A collection of daylilies, begun in 1978 with 15 cultivars, was greatly augmented in 1979 with 35 additional cultivars donated by Mr. Walter Correll and Mr. Lawrence Smith of the American Hemerocallis Society of San Diego.
In addition to the Gardens having special display appeal to community groups and casual visitors, important additions were made to collections of value in teaching and research. Among these, a large collection (176 species) of grasses was donated (1978) by the late Professor Victor Youngner, who was a widely recognized UCR authority on grasses. Many tropical economic plants, such as coffee, tea, cocoa, pineapple, banana, taro, and mahogany were established in the greenhouse (see below). Also, many plants of primary interest in teaching classical botany, such as Cycads, Equisetum, Ophioglossum, Gnetum, and many others were established in the new greenhouse.
During Professor Erickson's tenure, most of the present (1991) University-funded buildings were constructed. These, at last, provided some structures much needed to serve the minimal basic needs of the Gardens. The information center, completed in 1976, located to the left of the entrance gate, provided a public drinking fountain and toilets, and housing for information activities, brochures and related publications. In 1978, a fiberglass greenhouse measuring 100 by 32 feet, provided with evaporative cooling, was completed. This greenhouse enabled the Gardens to propagate plants and to maintain tropical species of special interest to the teaching of both economic and classical botany. A half-time nursery position (Mr. Bill Gary) was provided to look after the greenhouse plants. The so-called multipurpose building was ready for occupancy in the fall of 1980, with space for a small conference room and the University's herbarium. The conference room provided much needed space for conferences and meetings of interest to both University and private groups concerned with the development of the Gardens. Almost from the beginning, there has been a steady demand for its use. Scheduling in advance is necessary to insure its availability.
Numerous other physical improvements were installed under Professor Erickson's guidance. Among the most important of these were improved fencing (1975), irrigation system improvements (1975-1976), paving of the turn-around at the entrance (1976), installation of the entrance gate (1977), expanding the utility services (1978-1981), construction of additions to the lathhouse (1979), erecting the bulletin board at the entrance (1981), and providing lighting of the road to the Gardens (1981). The entrance gate and the bulletin board were built with donated funds.
Nine years after Professor Erickson retired as Director of UCRBG, he was asked what the most difficult problem was during his tenure. Without hesitation, he indicated that it was inadequate budget support. When he started in 1973, he had only 2.0 regular support staff. In 1981, his last year as director, he still had only 2.5 regular staff members. At various times, some additional help was provided with monies for student help to the extent of the equivalent of 0.5 to 0.75 full-time student helpers. In this area, the then Vice Chancellor, Van L. Perkins, was most helpful in providing some special UCR funds for student help and related purposes. Also, volunteer workers offered significant help at times. Special CETA funds occasionally provided some additional help, but there was never a large enough staff to adequately develop and maintain some 20 to 25 acres of diverse plantings in the Gardens. Lack of adequate funds for such items as propagating supplies, mechanized gardening tools, road and trail development, labeling of plants, secretarial help for proper record keeping, and many other similar activities were vexing problems.
Not one to be discouraged by the austere budgetary support provided by the University, Professor Erickson began a stepped-up public service program aimed at generating funds from private sources. He started actively involving himself and the Gardens with local gardening clubs, ornamental plant societies, schools, and similar groups. To this end, he gave many talks, arranged tours, and otherwise promoted the visibility of the Gardens with a constituency of local and regional plant enthusiasts, schools, and the general public. Also, he started a surplus plant sale as a feature of the annual UCR Open House Day. Starting with profits of well under $1,000 in 1973, this source of outside income gradually increased to around $2,000 in 1981.
All of these activities gave the Gardens much greater visibility. The publicity they generated in the form of newspaper and magazine articles greatly stimulated public interest and resulted in a gradually increasing support from private donations, not only of money, but also of plants, paving materials, benches, and similar material contributions. In the publicity area, the zealous efforts of Mrs. Lorraine Small, garden editor of the Press Enterprise, was -- and continued to be -- invaluable.
The most significant result of all these public service activities was the organization in the fall of 1980 of the Friends of the UCR Botanic Gardens. In June of 1980, two men, wishing to promote the UCR Botanic Gardens, were the primary driving forces in the founding of an organization to support it. Separately, and unknown to each other, the late Mr. John D. Babbage and Mr. Frank L. Hagen, approached Professor Erickson concerning the needs of the Gardens. Professor Erickson was delighted -- he had long envisioned the potential of a support group for the Gardens. As a result, on June 10, 1980, a meeting of John Babbage, Frank Hagen, Grant Carner (a Riverside lawyer), and Louis Erickson was held. It was decided that an organization, patterned after the "Friends of the Botanical Garden" at the U.C. Berkeley campus was needed. Two weeks later, another meeting was held and attended by eight persons and the present "Friends of the UCR Botanic Gardens" organization began to emerge. In October 1980, this outside support group was approved by Chancellor Tomás Rivera.
In addition to the usual provisions, the by-laws specified that it was a "non-profit organization operating within the framework of the University of California, Riverside." The purpose stated was "to provide voluntary assistance in furthering the development and maintenance of the Botanic Gardens." Also stated was "Financial assistance shall include contributing to an endowment fund for the Gardens." Membership in the "Friends" group was extended to all who made annual contributions of $10 (now $15) or more. The first officers were: President, Frank L. Hagen; Vice President, Grant C. Carner; Secretary, John D. Babbage; Treasurer, James D. Lusk.
Issue number one of the Gardens' quarterly newsletter, sponsored by the Friends, was dated January 1, 1981. During its first year, membership grew to 277 and contributions of around $10,000 were realized.
Professor Erickson attached an appendix to his 1979-80 report in which the minimum needs of the Garden during the next decade were estimated. He indicated that the most urgent need was for additional permanent staff "so that the Garden can be maintained at a minimum acceptable level of excellence." He pointed out that the Botanical Garden at Berkeley, approximately the same size as the one at Riverside, had 15 1/2 full-time staff as compared to 2 1/2 at Riverside. To him, it seemed that the creation of an endowment fund by public donations was the only feasible way of meeting these long-range needs. He was very pessimistic that the need would ever be filled by University funding. He estimated that at least 4 1/2 additional permanent staff would be needed to "operate the Garden as it should be operated." The additional full-time staff would require, at 1980 rates, around $80,000 annual support. He estimated that an endowment fund of around $1.3 million would be needed to yield sufficient income to support such a staff increase, again at 1980 rates.
Some administrative changes were made during Professor Erickson's tenure which were of significance in the Gardens' support and development. On July 1, 1975, Dean W. M. Dugger made the UCR Botanic Gardens a separate "line item" in the budget of the Department of Biology, its administrative home at that time. This was first proposed in 1968 by Professor Gillett when it was part of the Division of Life Sciences. In University budget-making procedures, separate, fiscally-discrete "line items" budget requests attract more attention and tend to be more readily funded than those imbedded within, and confused with, requests for other competing functions. This strengthened Professor Erickson's (and subsequently Professor Waines') hand in getting favorable action on budget requests. In 1978, a further reorganization landed the Botanic Gardens in its current (1991) home in the enlarged Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, a unit of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. This change provided a broader range of academic resource people within the department and a greater support base for clerical and related services.
Under Professor Erickson's leadership, the Gardens made some major advances, perhaps the most significant in its short history up to 1981. He vigorously developed the public service mission of the Gardens so that the Gardens became a highly visible and well-publicized University facility, serving as a focal point for many and diverse groups of plant societies and other plant enthusiasts, both local and regional. In contrast to his predecessors, he emphasized display plantings attractive to such groups and the general public. These plantings and his dedicated personal outreach efforts lead to significant public support through donations of money, materials, plants, and volunteer labor. This eased somewhat the very severe constraints caused by the austere University support.
He started to set aside money for an endowment fund from donations. In the long run this, together with the fostering of the foundation of the Friends, may loom as among the most significant events in the Gardens' developmental history.
The teaching and research missions of the Gardens were significantly expanded and diversified under Professor Erickson's leadership. In addition, he pushed for and obtained University funding of three important structures: the information center, the greenhouse, and the multipurpose building housing the conference room and the herbarium.