The Pitzer College Arboretum began informally in 1984 as a movement to save surviving indigenous
vegetation from demolition by well-meaning academic developers. The movement was begun by Dr.
John R. Rodman, Professor of Environmental Studies, other faculty,
staff, and students.
 The roots of the Arboretum, however, reach back to the culture of
environmental awareness and concern that began in the 1960’s
and flourished in the 1970’s when Pitzer’s Environmental
Studies program was established. The operating commonality among
the sixteen Arboretum gardens, spread over an area of about ten
acres, is that drought-tolerant and native landscaping can produce
not only a beautiful and welcoming, but environmentally responsible
setting for a college located in the San Gabriel alluvial scrub
country of Southern California.
Since 1988 the Arboretum has been
an official part of the college, while retaining much of its participatory
character and relying heavily on volunteer contributions from within
and outside the college to fund its work projects, notably students
and faculty in Environmental Studies courses and, since 2001, by
the Arboretum Manager, Joe Clements.
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