CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Local and state plans are in the works to designate Cheyenne’s High Plains Arboretum as a historic site.
The arboretum is a 62-acre site located west of F.E. Warren Air Force Base on the former USDA Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station. It is a part of the 2,749-acre arboretum originally created in 1928 by the USDA to test trees, shrubs and flowers for survival on the High Plains. Roughly 2,200 acres are owned by the City of Cheyenne, but is under a 200-year lease to the department that was signed in 1930.
In 2000, the Friends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens nonprofit created the Friends of the High Plains Arboretum subcommittee. In 2008, the committee came to an agreement with the USDA to allow the 62 acres to be taken off of the lease. The acre is now under full control of the city and is maintained by the Cheyenne Urban Forestry Division.
During the City Council’s work session this afternoon, councilmembers, Wyoming State Park staff and Friends of the High Plains Arboretum personnel discussed the merits of making the arboretum into a formal site.
Councilmember Mark Rinne, who initiated the session, apologized to the council for scheduling it on short notice. Rinne serves as the council representative for the Friends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens board and said some state legislatures are in favor of turning the arboretum into a park. They wanted to hear the council’s opinion before gathering public support.
Nick Neylon, deputy director for Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails said the division was approached by legislatures in March with the idea, although the arboretum has been on the staff’s radar for the past eight years. The division currently oversees 27 historic sites and 13 state parks, including Curt Gowdy State Park in Laramie County.
In May, State Parks received a letter from Mayor Patrick Collins asking for staff to initiate the site criteria process. The process, which includes studying logistics of the proposed state park or historical site area, takes nine to 12 months to complete. Staff members are at a point in the criteria process where they need public input, which is why they scheduled a work session with the council.
“Public engagement is a huge part of what we do,” Neylon said during the session. “We don’t do anything without extensively planning out with folks in the local community, the people who will be affected.”
Carly-Ann Carruthers, planning and grants manager for the division, said it would be more appropriate for the arboretum to be designated as a historic site instead of a park. The land features old landscapes and buildings, including an irrigation control valve, a greenhouse, a lath house, a soils lavatory building, a reservoir and a CCC Camp which is often used by the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming.
“We feel like there’s a very strong history component here,” she said during the session. “Not that there won’t be recreational amenities … but when people [hear] state parks they think of Curt Gowdy, they think of heavy recreational purpose, so we want to steer people away from that.”
Following the explanation, multiple councilmembers asked if the Girls Scouts could still use the campsite if State Parks takes over. Neylon said the partnership won’t affect any of the arboretum’s activities.
“We don’t envision that our partnership would change any of the activities that are happening out there now,” he said. “The types of things that are happening now can continue to happen, and we want them to. … We want to find ways to help them expand.”
Councilmember Scott Roybal asked what State Parks would need from the city in order to move forward with the plans. Neyers said staff would need formal consent from the council, including a memorandum of understanding an a resolution in support of it.
Randy Byers, a board member of the Friends of Cheyenne Botanic Garden and chair of the High Plains Arboretum committee, said local stakeholders will appreciate a partnership between the city and state, including the garden, the Laramie County Conservation District, Laramie County Community College and Laramie County School Districts 1 and 2.
“The site is a jewel that is somewhat undiscovered,” he said during the session. “but has enormous potential.”
While State Parks can help better preserve and manage the historical structures in the arboretum, management of the trees should remain with garden staff and the city’s Urban Forestry division, Byers said. The arboretum trees are a curated collection of historically important specimens around the world that have adapted to Wyoming’s climate, Byers said. They require specific agricultural techniques and processes that only the garden and division staff are familiar with.
“Their skills and knowledge are uniquely suited for the task and care and further enhancement of that High Plains Arboretum,” he said.
Rinne said he encourages the council to move forward with the partnership. For years, city staff expressed interest in further developing the arboretum, he said, but never had the money to prioritize it.
“To me it feels like a perfect partnership with the state and one way to actually get this moving forward,” he said. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for years now and the city’s just never had the ability to do it.”
