Upcoming Events
Earth Week Story Stroll
In celebration of Earth Week, join us April 20-25, 2026, for a Story Stroll!
This outdoor experience invites readers of all ages to follow a grassy path around the pond, with each page of the book displayed on laminated signs. Enjoy a meaningful way to connect literacy with nature on campus.
This year’s featured book, Walking Together, 2023, by Elder Albert D. Marshall and Louise Zimanyi (text), with art by Emily Kewageshig, is shared with permission from Annick Press Ltd. Sponsored by the Arboretum @91³Ô¹Ï, the University Library, and the Family Development Center, this event is open to the public.
Start at location number one and make your way clockwise around the pond.
Be sure to check the weather and dress accordingly before heading out. There have been many storms over the past few weeks, so some sections of the path are muddy. Hiking shoes or rain boots are recommended.
You can listen to the author read this story on , download a of the story in PDF, or review an before you begin.
About the Arboretum
The Arboretum at 91³Ô¹Ï was created on April 29, 2022, when 91³Ô¹Ï received Level 1 Accreditation through ArbNet, a registry program developed by the Morton Arboretum to set standards and encourage the planting and conservation of trees.
To achieve Level 1 accreditation, a program must have:
- • An arboretum plan that defines its purpose and types of trees grown
- • An organizational structure
- • An arboretum collection of at least 25 labeled species of trees
- • Arboretum staff or volunteers
- • A public dimension such as an educational event each year
Goals
The Arboretum has three main goals:
- 1. Serve as a living laboratory, providing a dynamic and engaging learning environment for students of all ages that emphasizes both Western science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
- 2. Promote health and wellness by encouraging reciprocity and the mutual flourishing of all 91³Ô¹Ï constituents, including its people, plants, land, and animals.
- 3. Integrate sustainability, ecological stewardship, and environmental justice into our program planning.
Visit
Hours: Open Dawn to Dusk
Location: 1 University Parkway, University Park, IL, 60484 (Directions to 91³Ô¹Ï)
General Information for Visitors:
- • Parking is free in designated areas
- • Bathrooms are located inside the main campus building
- • Check the forecast before leaving. Sturdy shoes, pants, hats, sunglasses, bug spray, and sunscreen are recommended.
- • Leave flowers, grasses, leaves, and seeds as you found them
- • Throw away or recycle all trash
- • Picnic tables are available from May through October on a patio overlooking the lake near the university's D-Wing
- • Alcoholic beverages and smoking are strictly prohibited
- • Do not climb sculptures – They are works of art, not playground structures. Many of the works have already spent nearly half a century outdoors and are quite fragile
Explore
- • Education
- ‣ Lesson Plans
- ‣ Story Walk
- ‣ Sculpture Park
- • Wellness
- ‣ Meditation Walk
- ‣ Exercise Walk
- • Trees
- ‣ American Hophornbeam
- ‣ American Linden
- ‣ Black Cherry
- ‣ Black Locust
- ‣ Blackgum
- ‣ Blue Spruce
- ‣ Burr Oak
- ‣ Chinkapin Oak
- ‣ Common Baldcypress
- ‣ Common Chokecherry
- ‣ Common Persimmon
- ‣ Downy Serviceberry
- ‣ Eastern Cottonwood
- ‣ Eastern Redbud
- ‣ Eastern White Pine
- ‣ Flowering Crabapple
- ‣ Ginkgo
- ‣ Green Ash
- ‣ Hawthorn Spp.
- ‣ Kentucky Coffeetree
- ‣ Northern Catalpa
- ‣ Northern Hackberry
- ‣ Northern Red Oak
- ‣ Osage-Orange
- ‣ Paper Birch
- ‣ Pin Oak
- ‣ Red Maple
- ‣ River Birch
- ‣ Shingle Oak
- ‣ Silver Maple
- ‣ Sugar Maple
- ‣ Swamp White Oak
- ‣ Thornless Honeylocust
- ‣ White Mulberry
- ‣ Yellow Birch
Download a Map of the Arboretum at 91³Ô¹Ï
News
Building upon 91³Ô¹Ï's arboretum accreditation
President Green Announces Arboretum at Governors State University