After months of hard work cleaning out weeds and adding plantings and benches, the SFNA and USC will host an Open House for the USC Belser Arboretum on Saturday, March 31st from 1-4 p.m.


The Open House will include a celebration of the completion of the CANDO gardens and recognition of all the volunteers. The ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. Everyone in the neighborhood is invited, and volunteers are especially encouraged to attend.Residents of the Sherwood Forest Neighborhood have put in many hours of hard work to help Belser Arboretum manager Dr. Patricia DeCoursey clean up and improve the arboretum in the past year. Pat, a USC biology professor, was appointed by her department to help make the arboretum more accessible and usable. Her energy and friendliness drew neighborhood interest that led to many people volunteering time to help her in a variety of ways. This informal relationship eventually led to a grant application, on the part of the Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association (SFNA), to the City of Columbia for a CANDO grant to improve the city property along the perimeter of the arboretum along Bloomwood and Wilmot Streets. Both the Wilmot and Bloomwood gates will be open for the afternoon and guides will be in the arboretum to help visitors. Trail guide pamphlets will also be available and interpretive signs will be in place through out the arboretum to help visitors learn more about the arboretum. Visitors will likely be delighted with the changes in this lovely urban forest since its clean up. It is a jewel in the midst of our neighborhood. The arboretum cannot be open all the time since there is not a resident caretaker, but initial plans are to have it open one Sunday a month using neighborhood volunteers as monitors. Volunteers will also continue to help Pat DeCoursey inside the arboretum on an as-needed basis. This is the best way to get to enjoy the delights and peace of the arboretum. If you are interested in helping, please contact Valerie Marcil, our neighborhood arboretum liaison. Email her at vallg29205@gmail.com, or call 738-0682.