HSBC Funding Helps Make Arboretum More Accessible

09/03/2010

Work was completed on the quarter-mile long universal access trail through the ESF Ranger School Arboretum during the school's 2010 volunteer day. Volunteers have been working on the trail since receiving a $25,000 grant from the HSBC in the Community (USA) Foundation Inc. in 2007. Surveying students helped determine the slope line for the trail. Then, forestry students and alumni set the lumber and poured the stone.

The arboretum is a collection of living trees and shrubs, used to complement The Ranger School students' field experience and classroom study. The arboretum was established in 1940, expanded to about 10 acres in 1995 and now it covers nearly 15 acres. It includes about 60 species common in the northern hardwood and boreal forests of the Northeast, particularly in the Adirondack region. Some non-local species, such as ponderosa pine, pitch pine, and tulip poplar are also present.

In addition to Ranger School students, the arboretum is used by local school groups and by visitors with an interest in learning about trees and shrubs.

The Ranger School has educated more than 3,000 graduates. Its programs in forest technology and land surveying technology have a national reputation for excellence. The school, established in 1912, is located in the community of Wanakena in the Adirondack Park.

HSBC in the Community (USA) Foundation Inc. is the charitable foundation of HSBC Bank USA, N.A. and was created to carry out the bank's mission with a philanthropic strategy focused primarily on education and the environment.