Learn about the community members and volunteers that work to make the Arboretum a beautiful place for visitors to enjoy

By REBEKA ZELJKO — features@theaggie.org 

The UC Davis Arboretum is a diverse natural reserve that runs along the UC Davis campus. It includes more than 20 distinct gardens that span over 100 acres, all maintained by hardworking faculty and volunteers from the Davis community. According to the UC Davis Arboretum website, the Arboretum is a great place “for visitors to informally explore the academic richness of UC Davis.”

Carmia Feldman, who is the assistant director of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, said the botanical gardens stand out from other natural reserves. 

“The Arboretum is unique because it is right in the heart of campus, meaning people can get here by walking or biking from the dorms or the City of Davis,” Feldman said in an email. “This nearby nature makes it an attractive and beloved open space for the campus and local community, as well as making it easily accessible to visitors from farther away.”

Feldman began working at the Arboretum during her time studying plant ecology and science education at UC Davis. 

“It was inevitable that I would get connected with the Arboretum!” Feldman said. “I started as the Education Director of the Arboretum in 2001 and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2006. I truly love how the work we do impacts our campus, community and beyond.”

Community members and students are highly involved in the Arboretum. According to their website, the Arboretum has dozens of volunteer internships and positions for students and Davis residents, all of which contribute to the projects and upkeep of the natural landscape.

“Our organization, the Arboretum and Public Garden, is also unique in how we engage people through our innovative initiatives, with an emphasis on giving UC Davis students leadership growth opportunities through our Learning by Leading™ program,” Feldman said in an email. “We have over 100 students participating each year in Learning by Leading™ internships that focus on Sustainable Horticulture, Ecological Land Management and Public Horticulture & Engagement.”

One volunteer, Barbara Ohlendorf, began working in Arboretum’s teaching nursery when she retired in 2010.  

“I’ve always worked with plants,” Ohlendorf said. “It’s my hobby, it was my profession and when I retired from the university, it was a no-brainer.”

Like many others who got involved with the UC Davis Arboretum, Ohlendorf’s affinity for plants and gardening has grown into a full-time passion.

“I started in college in Wisconsin with my indoor plants, and when my plant that I was growing indoors bloomed all winter, I was hooked,” Ohlendorf said. “And at my first house, I had a garden full of zinnias, and I’ve been gardening ever since.”

Like Ohlendorf, Taylor Lewis wanted to make his love for plants his career, and now, he works as the nursery manager for the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery.

“My initial exposure was as a student [at UC Davis] going through the environmental horticulture program,” Lewis said. “I was growing my first seed that I collected from the California native plant, salvia, and after seeing it germinate and grow, it was sort of my lightbulb moment. I thought, ‘I want to do this every day.’”

Lewis’s love for plants, combined with his love for the UC Davis Arboretum, meant that the nursery manager job was a dream opportunity.

“When I saw this position pop up almost 10 years ago, I knew I had to apply,” Lewis said. “I guess I needed something that was more hands-on, and I knew this was more hands-on than what I was doing.”

For Lewis and many others, the Arboretum is the ideal escape from the city into nature. 

“It’s a free plant museum that people use for exercise, research, being out in nature, forest bathing and getting that nature fix,” Lewis said. “It gets better every single year. We are improving and growing, and our gardens keep expanding.”

Lewis also manages the many volunteers they work with.

“I think there are about 40 different community members that volunteer for the nursery in [some] way, shape or form,” Lewis said. “We have well over 150 volunteers that work for the arboretum and at least 150 for plant sales. You need that many people when you get 1,500 people walking through the doors in four hours.”

The UC Davis Arboretum has a wide variety of internships and positions available. 

“There’s something for every student,” Lewis said. “We have programs like no other on campus. I don’t know of any other program on campus with over a hundred students volunteering.”

Many volunteers and staff are particularly concerned with climate research and studying the effects of different climates on plants. One of these volunteers is Sam Vitt, a fourth-year environmental science major. Vitt works as a coordinator for the urban tree stewardship team and is currently involved in a long-term project.

“It’s a project called the Texas Tree Trials, and we study tree specimens from Texas and their adaptability to differing climates,” Vitt said.

Ohlendorf is also contributing to the Arboretum’s forefront involvement in climate consciousness and how it affects plant life.

“I think it’s important the way that the Arboretum is showcasing native plants and drought-tolerant plants,” Ohlendorf said. “They’ve been a leader in the state for the promotion of these plants and have partnered with the nursery industry to grow and market these plants.” 

Apart from the research she is involved in, Vitt also enjoys the Arboretum recreationally.

“I think it’s really cool, it’s like a living museum from all around the world attached to our campus,” Vitt said. “It’s such a perfect getaway.” 

Vitt’s interest in the Arboretum began before her time as a student at UC Davis.

“I remember coming to the Arboretum before I chose to go to Davis and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is this place? I want to get involved!’” Vitt said. “It’s definitely one of my favorite places.”

 Like other students, Vitt finds refuge in the Arboretum gardens. It’s easy for students to get caught up in their studies, so the Arboretum is a great way to take a step back, according to Vitt. 

“I’ve always been interested in getting in touch with nature, especially because I feel like everything is moving more toward urbanization,” Vitt said. “So I like to push back on it and go back into nature.” 

Lewis emphasized that the Arboretum is the perfect place to connect with nature.

“We definitely are able to make our impact felt across campus,” Lewis said. “We are raising awareness sort of by putting people in touch with plants.”

Volunteers at the Arboretum believe plants are beneficial to everyone, whether they are plant enthusiasts or simply in need of a breather. 

“It was such a rest spot for everyone,” Ohlendorf said. “It was one of the few places you could gather during the pandemic, and it still is my favorite place. It has so many wonderful gardens and areas to offer for everyone.”

Written by: Rebeka Zeljko — features@theaggie.org

The response to the housing crisis must expand to include the university, according to involved community members

By MARIA MARTINEZ CASTRO  — features@theaggie.org 

Students across the UC systems are experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness, and despite its feel-good college town reputation, Davis is not free from a housing crisis. 

As a result, both student-run and community-based organizations are stepping up to address these critical and widespread issues. Chelina Rhee, a fourth-year communications and sociology double major, is the external co-president for Aggie House, a student-founded and student-run organization that aims to provide transitional housing for UC Davis students. 

“Housing is such a basic human right, it’s a no-brainer that everyone deserves housing,” Rhee said. “Seven percent of UC Davis students experience homelessness, and 18% of UC Davis students experience some type of housing insecurity. We really wanted to address the problem of housing insecurity because no one really seemed to be talking about it, and there were not a lot of resources for students that were facing housing insecurity.”

Aggie House began its operations in fall 2021. The organization provides students experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness with transitional housing and resources while in the process of looking for permanent housing. Through the efforts of its board members, student volunteers, donations and partnerships, Aggie House can provide its residents with resources like meals and community relationships. 

“The fact that a lot of students are worried about if they’re going to have a place to sleep at night, if they’re going to have to stay in the car [or] if they have to couch surf at a friend’s house […] all of these are concerns UC Davis students shouldn’t have,” Rhee said. “They should be focusing on their academics. They should be focusing on enjoying their college experience.” 

Robert Weiner, a continuing lecturer in the Department of Human Ecology is the executive director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing. He attests to the housing crisis happening in Davis and all over the state. 

“We have students, I’ve heard, that are experiencing housing insecurity,” Weiner said. “[They are] couch surfing, living in a car, sometimes living on the street because of the cost of housing, tuition, books, etc. It is definitely a growing crisis as the cost of education and housing go up, but student incomes are flat or decreasing.” 

Students continue to live in a climate of constantly rising and piling expenses. The causes of housing insecurity and homelessness expand beyond the individual. Numerous external factors affect students every day, such as rising housing and food prices, expensive tuition, mental health and individual financial situations. 

“A lot of these issues are systemic,” Rhee said. “Number one, UC Davis as an institution, the tuition is so high, so a lot of students are already struggling with affording tuition, and so on top of that, there’s housing insecurity. There’s not enough affordable housing for students to stay here. [It] is not the students themselves choosing to be unhoused.” 

Weiner describes it as “a constellation of different factors coming together.” 

Davis Community Meals and Housing is a community-based organization addressing food and housing insecurity at the local level. Their services include shelter housing, meal programs and basic needs resources. They are another type of on-the-ground service available to the UC Davis student population and the Davis population in general. 

Bill Pride, executive director of Davis Community Meals and Housing, said that student housing insecurity is a rising issue in recent years that the university doesn’t seem to have a solid solution for yet. 

“To be blunt, the issue of student housing insecurity and food insecurity is kind of a newer issue in town, frankly,” Pride said. “I would say this much, I don’t necessarily think the university paid a lot of attention to it for many years, even though we knew it existed. But I don’t think there were large enough numbers to pay much attention to it. I know in the last couple of years it’s become more of an issue because of local rising housing costs.” 

Addressing housing insecurity and homelessness in Davis cannot fall on student-run and community-based organizations alone. Weiner believes that UC Davis and the city of Davis are large ruling entities in town that also bear the responsibility. 

“I don’t know that any school or local government is doing enough,” Weiner said. “You always have these tensions between universities and cities or counties where they are located about whose responsibility it is to provide housing. In the case of Davis, that has been a continual debate. I think the city, over time, has tried in different ways to address the affordable housing crisis, but have they done enough? No. Has the university done enough? No. There are a lot of things the university could be doing that it isn’t doing with respect to housing.” 

Pride believes that universities have a responsibility to ensure the well-being and security of their students. 

“If you’re accepted into a university, you’re there to get an education, but somehow the university [should] take care of your needs, too,” Pride said. “You know, whether it’s through grants, student housing [or] through other things. I mean, honestly, to me, it’s a public disgrace that this is happening locally and at any university. There should be some resources put aside for folks to meet their needs so that they get the education they need and not have to worry about feeding themselves and having a place to stay.” 

While the university and the city continue working toward comprehensive solutions, organizations such as Aggie House and Davis Community Meals and Housing will continue to serve the Davis community. Rhee said that the university and city could work in conjunction with these organizations to support students.

“Our campus can make more of an effort for organizations such as Aggie House and for other resources such as Aggie Compass [by securing] more funding for [these] programs […] in the case that students are housing insecure,” Rhee said. “The dream goal is that every student in Davis has access to secure housing. But until then, we just want to try our best to help as many people as we can, even if they just need a place to stay for a week or a month or even a year. We just want to be a resource students can rely on.” 

Written by: Maria Martinez Castro — features@theaggie.org