Digging In

Committed volunteers from Como Friends’ community of corporate and business sponsors keep Como Park Zoo & Conservatory growing

Every year, more than 600 volunteers from around the community give more than 28,000 hours of their time and talents to Como Park Zoo & Conservatory—an in-kind contribution that’s equivalent to more than $1 million every year. 

Now, that volunteer tally includes 26 arborists from Bartlett Tree Experts who just dedicated a full day of service to replacing and replanting the leafy allée that leads to the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory’s historic entrance. 

“Our company encourages every local office to shut down for the entire day and move out to volunteer in the community,” says Jeffrey Metcalf, a commercial arborist representative at Bartlett, which has brought its expertise to a number of tree projects at Como over the years, including tree pruning work in the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden. As the company considered where to dedicate their day of community service, “our entire staff was very excited about the possibility of making their mark at Como.”

Working in partnership with Ray Watson, horticultural curator of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, and Caroline Mehlhop, Como Friends’ director of institutional partnerships and events, volunteers from Bartlett committed to supporting a plan to renew the tree canopy around Como’s front door. With a number of linden trees lining the drive that were damaged by snow plows and school buses, diseased, or with root systems heaving up the sidewalks, Watson came up with a plan to replace them with hardier and more varied specimens, including the columnar hackberry, the Kindred Spirit white oak, and the Japanese tree lilac. The mix gives Como more options if disease or damage affects one species. Watson says their upright, columnar forms also harken to Como’s early history, when Italianate tree plantings were all the rage. 

In mid-September, Bartlett’s team took down nine aging and root-bound trees, and replaced them with a total of 16 new arrivals that have already transformed the approach to the Conservatory’s entrance. With trees donated by Legacy Trees, a local nursery wholesaler, and work performed by Bartlett staffers, the day of service amounted to a $45,000 contribution to Como’s horticultural operations. 

“We’re always pleased to welcome volunteers from the community that can help with various projects, but having highly skilled labor from the arborists at Bartlett’s was exactly what we needed to get this project done in a day,” says Watson. 

Metcalf says his co-workers are just as pleased with the effort, especially knowing contributions like this help preserve free admission at Como, where nearly two million annual visitors will get to see their work. “Como’s free admission is phenomenal, and it makes us proud to support it,” he says. “It’s going to be very exciting to watch every year to see the work we did continue to grow and expand.”