BILL REQ. #:  S-1724.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/13/09.   

     AN ACT Relating to enhancing the natural resource collections at the Washington park arboretum; adding new sections to chapter 28B.20 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the Washington park arboretum is the official arboretum of the state of Washington. The University of Washington and the city of Seattle cooperatively established the arboretum in 1934, with Seattle holding title to most of the property and the University of Washington owning, designing, developing, and managing the collections at the arboretum and botanic garden. The arboretum is a central component of the University of Washington botanic gardens, along with collections around the center for urban horticulture, in the Union Bay natural area, and in the Otis Douglas Hyde herbarium.
     The legislature finds that the Washington park arboretum contains a dynamic collection of trees and other woody plants that are hardy in the maritime Pacific Northwest. Collections are selected and arranged to display their beauty and function in urban landscapes, to demonstrate their natural ecology and diversity, and to conserve important species and cultivated varieties for the future. There is no fee for admission to the arboretum, allowing everyone to enjoy and learn from its collections.
     The legislature also finds that the Washington park arboretum holds one of the most prestigious plant collections in the world. The arboretum consists of approximately twenty thousand trees, shrubs, and vines, of which over ten thousand are catalogued. The collection includes approximately four thousand six hundred different species and one hundred thirty-nine endangered species. Collections include rhododendron, azalea, mountain ash, pine, spruce, cedar, fir, crabapple, holly, magnolia, camellia, and Japanese maple. The arboretum's collection of oaks and maples is the richest in the nation, and the conifers, hollies, and magnolias also rank among the nation's finest collections. The arboretum displays ninety-five percent of its holdings, whose estimated value is almost eighty-two million dollars.
     The legislature further finds that the Washington park arboretum's mission is to serve the public, students at all levels, naturalists, gardeners, and nursery and landscape professionals with its collections, educational programs, interpretation, and recreational opportunities. Therefore, the legislature intends to provide additional tools and resources to the University of Washington botanic gardens as it preserves and provides public access to the important educational, recreational, social, and cultural state resources that the arboretum and other botanic garden collections have to offer.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.20 RCW to read as follows:
     It is the goal of the legislature that the Washington park arboretum's collections, exhibits, and facilities be preserved, maintained, and presented in a manner befitting one of the world's most prestigious plant collections. Therefore, the Washington park arboretum must strive to:
     (1) Enhance public appreciation for the aesthetic diversity of temperate wood plants;
     (2) Educate the public and regional school population about urban landscape use and the natural biology of temperate wood plants;
     (3) Conserve and keep healthy native, exotic, and cultivated woody plants to preserve diversity for future appreciation;
     (4) Maintain and enhance collections, exhibits, and facilities to create the best possible ambiance and visitor experience; and
     (5) Cooperate with local, regional, national, and international entities that have a similar mission.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28B.20 RCW to read as follows:
     The University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship is established within the University of Washington to support a staff position within the botanic gardens, which currently falls under the college of forest resources. The purpose of the endowed curatorship is to ensure that perpetual funding exists for a botanic gardens curator who shall focus on: (1) The preservation, maintenance, and presentation of the botanic garden's collections; and (2) the goals established for the Washington park arboretum in section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 28B.20 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All moneys appropriated by the legislature for the University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship or to the account must be placed in the account. Money in the account may only be released according to the procedures set forth in subsection (2) of this section. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but an appropriation is not required for expenditures.
     (2) The state treasurer must release money in the University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship account to the University of Washington board of regents for inclusion in the University of Washington consolidated endowment fund when the University of Washington board of regents determines that it can match the state funds requested with an equal amount of funds contributed by nonstate sources for the University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship and requests that the funds be released. The state and nonstate moneys must each be placed in the University of Washington consolidated endowment fund. The University of Washington may not invade the principal invested for the botanic gardens endowed curatorship. Distributions from the consolidated endowment fund resulting from this investment must be used solely for purposes of the University of Washington botanic gardens endowed curatorship.