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Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Announces Additional Fire Damage
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Jesusita Fire
Damage Update
Garden Remains Closed
Classes and tours canceled
Santa Barbara, CA—The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden announced today that as of 9 am, May 8, 2009, it has sustained further damage to structures and the living collection.
Fire officials accompanied Botanic Garden President Dr. Edward Schneider through the Garden, allowing him to assess the buildings and grounds. "The good news is that the Meadow, Discovery Garden, Teahouse, Desert and most of the Redwood Exhibits are untouched," said Dr. Schneider. "Unfortunately, the historic Campbell Bridge, the beloved Pritchett Path, the popular Redwood Tree Ring Exhibit, Oak Woodland and Porter Path Exhibits were either destroyed or heavily damaged." Further damage was also sustained in the riparian corridor canyon as the fire spread from Tunnel Road down to Mission Creek.
"This is, indeed, sad news for the Garden and a sad time for the entire community," said the Garden's Board of Trustee Chair Fife Symington. "However, we know how deeply people in this community care about this beautiful garden and how strong their spirit is. Now is the time for all of us to pull together to not only rebuild the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, but rebuild all that has been lost."
Yesterday, the Garden confirmed loss of structures on its grounds. The 1908 Gane House, the proposed centerpiece of the Botanic Garden's building project, the Vital Mission Plan, was destroyed. The Botanic Garden had hoped to rehabilitate the large Craftsman-style home and to seek historic landmark status for it. Also lost in the fire was a deck overlooking Mission Canyon Creek, a lathe house, and the Director's residence and garage.
The Botanic Garden is grateful for the valiant efforts made by firefighters to save the remaining structures which include a herbarium, housing the Garden's vast collection of scientifically valuable dried plant specimens, the Blaksley Library and Library Annex, home to the extensive horticultural and botanical book collection and rare book room, the historic Caretaker's Cottage, and the seed bank, where the germplasm of rare and endangered species is stored. Firefighters credited access to fire hydrants recently installed on the premises by the Garden to saving these buildings.
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden will remain closed and classes and tours—with the exception of Dr. Robert Haller's field trips—are canceled until further notice. Currently, its communications systems are inoperable. Updates will be posted on this website.
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