LOWER NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — When foresters and arborists have visited Louise W. Moore Park, Bryan S. Cope said, they have often reacted with fascination or wonder.
“They were enthralled by the diversity and really the size of some of these species that they've never seen before or they've seen in other places that haven't adapted as well,” said Cope, Northampton County’s superintendent of parks and recreation.
“It was originally called Slate Post Farm back in the early 1800s. This used to be premier farmland before it was turned over to the county in the 1970s by Louise Moore as a county park.
“They developed it with the intent of having an arboretum; it just never was fully accredited and the paperwork finalized to have that stature.”
Now, that intent has been realized.
Louise W. Moore Park has been awarded a Level I Accreditation by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and the Morton Arboretum, county officials announced late last month. The 120-acre park, at 151 Country Club Road in Lower Nazareth Township, boasts more than 100 species of trees and shrubs from around the world, as well as three miles of walking trails, rental pavilions, playgrounds, tennis and pickleball courts.
The accreditation not only affirms the decades of work, but also cements the park as a destination for outdoor recreation and education, officials said.
“It's one more feather in the cap, but it puts us on the map as really a destination for the Lehigh Valley, for Northampton County, here, as part of our park system that we have this special gem with all of these different various trees."Bryan S. Cope, Northampton County’s superintendent of parks and recreation
“It's one more feather in the cap, but it puts us on the map as really a destination for the Lehigh Valley, for Northampton County, here, as part of our park system that we have this special gem with all of these different various trees,” Cope said.
“The history of the park, from being developed by one of the most renowned architects on the East Coast, really, internationally, at the time, and for us to build on the history of the park and maintain it and to really carry that forward — that's something that we don't carry lightly.”
What makes an arboretum?
An arboretum can be widely defined as an area devoted to trees, especially those of varying species, but any arboretum or public garden with a substantial focus on woody plants can apply for accreditation through ArbNet, according to the organization’s website.
"The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program established its internationally recognized set of professional standards with the purpose of recognizing excellence in tree-focused organizations and unifying the arboretum community," said Andrea Brennan, ArbNet Leader. "By meeting the core organizational, educational, and tree-related requirements to become an accredited arboretum, Louise Moore Park Arboretum is leveraging their impressive and historical tree collection to demonstrate their strong commitment to trees and serving as a community asset now and for the future."
There are four different levels of accreditation. The first level “are generally smaller publicly accessible sites with at least 25 species of woody plants, one or a few employees or volunteers, a governing body, and an arboretum plan,” while the highest, or fourth, level “employ well-qualified tree scientists engaged in publishing sophisticated research, manage living tree collections for the purpose of conservation, and take an active role in supporting tree conservation.”
There are dozens of arboretums across Pennsylvania and the U.S. ArbNet has a list of those both accredited and not on its website.
And, Louise Moore Park is not the only accredited arboretum in the Lehigh Valley. The Kayhart Arboretum at Luther Crest Retirement Community in Allentown, as well as the Northampton Community College Arboretum in Bethlehem Township, has also achieved Level I status through ArbNet.
Preservation, conservation, education
The diversity of plants, coupled with the educational efforts, make Louise Moore Park a unique arboretum, Cope said.
“The variety really kind of lends itself and what's unique is it's in a public park setting. It's run by county park staff, not a nonprofit or not a for-profit entity,” he said. “Our staff [members] are educated and trained for pesticides, pruning, maintenance — all that for tree health and care.”
The first to be developed as part of the county’s park system, Louise W. Moore in 1973 donated the land to the county to be developed as passive parkland. Moore was an accomplished musician, activist and philanthropist, who in 1947 married Hugh Moore, the founder of the Dixie Cup Co. of Easton.
The park arboretum was designed by George E. Patton & Associates, a prolific landscape architectural firm of 20th-century Philadelphia also responsible for campuses of the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, among others.
Over the years, trees have been added. In 1987, seven eastern hemlocks were planted to commemorate the bicentennial of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. In 2021, 46 grafted nut trees from the John Hershey Nut & Edible Fruit Tree Nursery & Farm in Downingtown, Chester County, were brought in.
“It's in a park setting, so there’s never really a threat of development that would happen,” Cope said. “It's one more of the preservation, the conservation and education component of having an arboretum in a public park setting.”
With the accreditation, park officials will now be part of a network for technical assistance and training.
“They have a lot of resources on their website for training for our staff, for us as administrators, for public outreach,” he said. “There's a whole host of technical assistance, a whole host of educational programming that we can dive into and really look at and put it towards what we can handle here as our park department and really rely on other partners to come in and help us with educational programming.”
Having already achieved the first level of accreditation, park officials are seeking the second.
“Our goal is to get up to a level two, which is public outreach, education, signage, tree tags and having over 100 different species of trees and shrubs,” he said. “Our hope is over the next two years or so to have all of that up to that level that we could ascend one more and get a little bit more credence out of that accreditation.”
