STARKVILLE – The first question Bob Brzuszek usually gets from people who read that Starkville is getting an arboretum is how to pronounce the word. But once the former landscape architecture professor gets past that, there’s plenty more to say about what these public groves offer residents and visitors.
“Garden is another name for it, but the focus is more on woody plants rather than flowering ones like in botanical gardens,” he said. “Being in nature is important to a lot of people, and providing opportunities for communities to do that is necessary. I’m very excited the city is creating a public space for people to enjoy the natural environment.”
Starkville hopes to build the region’s first Level I arboretum at Cornerstone Park, the sports complex completed in 2023. It would be only the second Level I arboretum in the state, the other being in Winona.
The park’s competition fields occupy roughly 40 acres, leaving roughly 80 acres undeveloped, Brzuszek said. As wetlands, they would ordinarily be challenging to develop, but he and other local stakeholders think they can turn that obstacle into an opportunity to give residents a new nature spot and a new appreciation for one of Mississippi’s most important ecosystems.
“Wetlands support some of the state’s largest industries like catfish and seafood,” he said. “They also support community health and safety by mitigating flooding. By teaching people about wetlands, we learn about the value of water and water quality.”
That Level I designation comes from ArbNet, a national accreditation organization for arboreta, and indicates that a given arboretum has an arboretum plan, a dedicated governance group, at least 25 different types of labeled trees or woody plants and dedicated volunteers or paid staff.
ArbNet’s database lists seven non-accredited arboretums throughout the state, and if Starkville’s continues to grow as its planners hope, it could someday become the state’s first Level II, III or IV arboretum.
The board of aldermen approved up to $25,000 in city funding Tuesday for Brzuszek’s company, The Artful Gardner, to move forward with design work on the arboretum. He’s joined in that effort by a broad coalition including the state Forestry Commission and Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Mississippi State University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, and Starkville’s Town and County Garden Club.
The most important partner in the park’s design, however, will be the public. Elements as fundamental as the layout of the park, what’s planted there and what services it offers will be decided by a public event April 11, where residents are invited to speak about what they would like to see from their neighborhood arboretum.
The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in MSU’s landscape architecture department at 845-3 Stone Boulevard, with designers walking residents through existing conditions and landscaping best practices before discussing potential layouts and what programming visitors would like to see. There will be artists on hand to turn resident sketches into more concrete blueprints, and designers hope to have a range of fully fleshed-out options by the time they’re done.
“We’re going to put a pencil in your hand, actively drawing things out with professionals helping to steer our best ideas,” Brzuszek said. “If you’re interested in nature walks or trails, the types of environments you’d like to see there, we’d be happy to accept your ideas.”
Aside from members of the public getting a new park, MSU students are using that development process itself to gain hands-on experience. Roughly a dozen students from the landscape architecture department helped plant 30 native trees on the site on April 25 for Arbor Day, and Anne Spafford, head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, said she hopes even more will participate in planning events.
She said field work is an invaluable part of MSU’s architecture program, sending students across the state to see how working architects interact with stakeholders and how projects actually become a reality.
“It’s a great way to show that with design there isn’t one right solution, which is very different from what students are taught before the university level,” she said. “Design isn’t like that. You don’t know whether you’ve come up with your best idea until you’ve seen multiple. Bringing a bunch of people together allows for that free ideation and ensures all these different perspectives are brought to the table.”
After the event, studies of the project area and existing wildlife will continue throughout the year. Design plans are slated to be completed in October, with a final plan including programming completed in December. Actual construction will depend on design scope, progressing incrementally as it relies on grant funding.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, who attended an Arbor Day planting at the site, said that adding natural spaces for residents to enjoy local plant and animal life is an important part of growing a well-rounded city.
“It’s trees, its sustainability, it’s an homage to nature and its value in our community,” she said. “When you live in a city, sometimes you forget that there are quiet places that add to your health and quality of life in ways you don’t think about. It’s the air you breathe, and an area you can take some respite in.”
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