Duke Earns Arboretum Accreditation for Its Expansive Tree Canopy

A new interactive map showcases more than 16,000 trees and 240 species across campus as Duke joins a select group of Level II arboretums worldwide

Trees on East Campus
The many trees on Duke's campus, such as these on East Campus, helped it earn a Level II Arboretum certification from ArbNet. Photo courtesy of Duke Marketing and Communications.

The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and the Morton Arboretum have designated Duke University as a Level II arboretum, acknowledging the university’s extensive efforts to protect, plant and promote its diverse tree collection.

Duke is now one of 132 Level II arboretums accredited by ArbNet worldwide and has earned the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus designation for 17 consecutive years for its thoughtful approach to tree care.

“It’s such as honor because there aren’t that many accredited arboretums out there,” said Roger Conner, Superintendent of Tree Management for Duke Facilities Management’s Landscape Services.

To earn Level II arboretum accreditation, Duke had to meet several requirements, hosting public tree-related events, developing  a comprehensive tree-management plan and cataloging more than 100 different species of trees for public viewing.

To reach the cataloging requirement, Duke Facilities Management recently launched The “Duke University Tree Viewer,” an interactive online map of its trees that  community members can use to take a deep dive into Duke’s tree canopy.

From the 1,995 loblolly pines that dot nearly every corner of campus to the lone banana tree that sits near the Duke Biosciences Research Greenhouse, the map showcases the more than 240 species of trees found at Duke. In all, the map shows the locations of 16,093 trees.

“If you click on a species, like say the eastern redbud, you can see where all of the eastern redbuds are on campus,” said GIS Manager for Duke Facilities Management Greg Anspach, who helps oversee the map. “It’s little things like that that I find so interesting as a data person.”

The new Duke University Tree Viewer allows users to find information about nearly 17,000 individual trees on Duke's campus. Image courtesy of Duke Facilities Management.

Work on what would become “Duke University Tree Viewer” began around 2012, when Facilities Management interns traversed campus with iPads equipped with mapping software, recording  the location, size, species and health of trees. That initial digital map was for internal use by Duke Facilities Management to guide tree care decisions.

Earlier this year, Conner approached Anspach about potentially making a simpler publicly available version of the online map to let the wider community learn about the trees on campus and help Duke fulfill part of the requirements of becoming a Level II arboretum.

In August, the new user-friendly version of the map was added to the Duke Facilities Management website, allowing community members to explore Duke’s trees, from its 42 Akebono cherries to its 113 Yoshino cherries.

Each tree is denoted by a small circle, with the diameter signifying its size in real life. Users can sort through each species and see a graph showing the most common species at Duke.

Among the details revealed by the map are the locations of two rare American chestnut trees – one by Hudson Hall and another by Circuit Drive – and the existence of a species called devilwood, which has a handful of trees near the Duke University School of Nursing.

“We did this so people, no matter where they are on campus can pull up the map and see what trees are around them,” Conner said. “Helping people learn about our trees is a major part of being an arboretum.”

Send story ideas, shout-outs and photographs through our story idea form or write working@duke.edu.

Follow Working@Duke on X (Twitter), Facebook and Instagram and subscribe on YouTube.