Spring has arrived, and we’re seeing a noticeable uptick in visitors at the Arnold Arboretum, even as the COVID-19 emergency has changed the ways we are all interacting for the sake of public health and safety. Providing our community with a beautiful and safe place to exercise, relax, and pursue well-being is central to our mission, and in this complicated moment we hope our grounds can be an oasis amid the challenges we face.
As you may have noticed, we have reduced the number of our staff who are working on site at the Arboretum as an effort to minimize person-to-person contact among essential employees. This unfortunately also means eliminating trash removal at the Arboretum for the time being. As a result, there is now a strict “carry in, carry out” policy for anything you bring into our landscape. All trash barrels have been removed from the landscape or decommissioned, so please bring your own bags to carry out your trash to dispose at home.
Since we typically remove over 60 bags of trash each week, we understand that this request may be frustrating and inconvenient to visitors. However, we expect all to comply with this request out of respect and concern for public health and safety, the integrity of our landscape, and the continued well-being of our staff on-site who are keeping the Arboretum safe, clean, and growing strong.
While you are on the Arboretum grounds, we recommend you follow similar safety precautions to what the CDC (and other authorities, including Harvard University) are recommending for indoor interaction, including:
- Keep 6 feet of distance between yourself and other visitors (easiest to do on our wider, main roads);
- Avoid touching or sitting on our benches, since viruses can live on some surfaces for extended periods of time;
- Avoid touching trunk labels and accession tags. You may use Arboretum Explorer on your mobile device to help you identify our plants through our interactive map.
With your cooperation, the Arnold Arboretum can continue to provide a beautiful, clean, and safe landscape for visitors at this time of heightened concern and reduction in on-site staffing. Thank you from all us—stay safe and stay well.