NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN annual report 2014 Celebrating 50 Years NTBG Annual Report 2014 1
MESSAGE FROM CHIPPER WICHMAN AND MERRILL MAGOWAN
We are pleased to share with our supporters improvements will engage the hearts and National Tropical Botanical Garden’s 2014 minds of our visitors and leave them with a Annual Report. The year was a milestone for deeper understanding of the importance of NTBG that marked 50 years since we received tropical plants and the mission-driven work our Congressional Charter! As you read NTBG undertakes. In turn, this will generate through this beautiful report you will begin to new revenue, new members and new donors see the impact that our founders envisioned to build a more sustainable foundation for when they petitioned Congress in the early NTBG’s future. Chipper Wichman 1960s. At 50, NTBG has grown and matured A second highlight of the year was the into a collection of gardens of exceptional international symposium – “Agents of beauty and mission-driven programs whose Change” – that we held in Washington, impact is felt around the world. DC, in October. Co-sponsored by the The celebration of our actual “birthday” National Museum of Natural History it on August 19, 2014, stands out as one of brought together botanical garden leaders, the highlights of our 50th year. More than scientists and researchers to discuss the 400 people gathered to be part of our role of botanic gardens in the 21st century. celebration, which included the dedication Leading up to the symposium, National of the Inouye Overlook, the opening of the Geographic Society published editorials Biodiversity Trail, aerial performers, and from ey NTBG sta on its website that Merrill Magowan the cutting of a large birthday cake with reached hundreds of thousands of readers a machete! It was a day that we will all world-wide. Following the symposium we remember for a long time. What made it had a gala dinner with Thomas L. Friedman, even more memorable was that it marked internationally renowned author, reporter the point at which we began to implement and New York Times columnist as the a new business model that will help to dinner speaker. It was an extraordinary sustain NTBG in our second fty years way to celebrate our origins in Washington, NTBG’s capital campaign is raising money to DC, and the impact that gardens like NTBG transform the McBryde Garden our flagship are having addressing some of the world’s garden - into a cutting-edge environmental most pressing problems. education experience for our visitors. The We invite you to read about the highlights opening of the Biodiversity Trail marks the of our 50th anniversary year and the rst of a series of improvements that we will important role that each of our ve, very construct over the next several years that special and very di erent, gardens play in will make McBryde Garden more accessible, shaping NTBG’s future. more educational, and more fun! The
Chipper Wichman Merrill Magowan hief Executive O cer and Director hairman of the Board of Trustees 2 Fifty NTBG Annual Report 2014 3
FIFTY
was a monumental supporters from the community all in high year for us as we spirits as we mar ed our rst half century marked our 50th n 01 we had much to reflect on and 2014 anniversary with much to celebrate, but also much to celebratory events and public o erings, consider as we recognized the urgency using the occasion to reflect on all we of work in the next 50 years. In the face have achieved, while looking ahead at the of unprecedented global environmental important work that remains. challenges, we are eager to move forward. We also believe that broadening our base It has been half a century since our of supporters in the local, national, and organization was created by a Congressional international community is critical to Charter on August 19, 1964. That event was ensuring we can remain sustainable and remembered 50 years to the day with an productive in the years ahead. open house in our flagship McBryde Garden that included celebratory speeches, flowers, With this in mind, we invite you to read in and the blessing of a passing shower. the following pages how we celebrated our Trees were festooned with hanging orchids past and all that we have achieved as our and a newly completed trail highlighting extended NTBG ‘ohana (family) boldly steps biodiversity was lined with Garden forward into our next 50 years. sta , Trustees, Fellows, volunteers, and 15 The Kampong Fifty 5
show
ince its completion in 2008, the In painstaking detail the prints depict Juliet Rice Wichman Botanical plants discovered and collected by Research Center (BRC) has provided Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander and Swork, study, and archival space for our British botanist Sir Joseph Banks who Science and Conservation departments as accompanied ames oo on his rst well as visiting researchers, students, and voyage across the aci c 1 1 1 the public. Today this state-of-the-art LEED Gold certi ed building houses a herbarium For the “Voyage of Discovery Art Exhibition” with approximately 72,000 specimens, a we selected 30 prints which were displayed seed bank, and a botanical library. inside the BRC. Following a private reception, the exhibition was open free to Our peers recognize the BRC as an the public for two months during which exceptional facility, but it’s not widely more than 1,000 people visited the BRC, nown outside of the scienti c community most for the rst time iewers included n an e ort to increase the visibility of residents, island visitors, and people who the research center, while sharing our traveled from neighboring islands to see rarely-seen, valuable resources with a new this rare exhibit that proved so popular it audience, we hosted two art exhibitions was extended an additional month. inside the BRC as part of our anniversary celebrations. In June we presented a second exhibition in the BRC – “The Living Endemic Birds of The BRC is home to a collection of more Hawai‘i.” Like “Voyage of Discovery,” the than 5,000 historical books, exceptionally public was invited to view the exhibit of rare volumes of botanical literature, and 33 paintings by celebrated artist Marian printed works dating back to the 16th Berger, who painted nearly four dozen birds century. Among our collection is a complete endemic to Hawai‘i. Rendered in the style of set (one of only 100 produced) of original famed ornithologist John James Audubon, hand-colored botanical prints made from Berger’s watercolor portraits depict engraved cooperplates based on 18th Hawaiian birds such as honeycreepers, century watercolors. nches, stilts, and the Hawaiian crow in their natural habitat. The exhibition, displayed in its entirety for the rst time, was visited by more than 600 people. 15 The Kampong Fifty 7
song
n April we took our celebrations outdoors Food trucks on the edge of the meadow as we hosted “Musical Legends in the sold snacks and refreshments, allowing Garden,” a concert that featured eight concert goers to have lunch in the shade I of Hawai‘i’s top musical acts. Along with of monkey pod trees as they enjoyed an Hawaiian Legends Ledward Ka‘apana and exciting mix of slack key guitar, ‘ukulele, Mike Ka‘awa, the line-up included half a Hawaiian influenced blues, and hula dozen of Hawai‘i’s favorite musicians and performances. After Jerry Douglas’s set, headlining act Jerry Douglas. A13-time the entire line-up gathered on stage for a Grammy Award winner, Douglas is a master kanikapila (impromptu jam) during which of the dobro, a resonator guitar popular in the musicians clearly had as much fun as country, blues, and bluegrass music. the audience, some of whom had taken to dancing barefoot on the grass. “Musical Legends” was held in the open meadow beside our Southshore Visitors “Musical Legends” was widely hailed as enter on a flawless spring day The all a success not only for its entertainment afternoon event was attended by some value but also for introducing NTBG to a 1,000 people including our sta , members, new audience who surely will return to the Trustees, as well as Kaua‘i’s Mayor garden again and again. Bernard Carvalho and Hawai‘i’s Governor Neil Abercrombie. 8 Fifty The Kampong 16
CELEBRATION
uch of the rst half of 01 saw our On that sunny summer day, we gathered sta wor ing furiously to complete a along the newly completed Biodiversity major new feature in the McBryde Trail beneath towering trees decorated with MGarden – an 800-foot-long hanging orchids and new plantings lining meandering ‘Biodiversity Trail’ designed to the trail. The celebration began as local tell the story of 450 million years of plant school children formed a giant “50,” which life and botanical evolution. The trail was was captured with aerial photography. formally opened to the public on the 19th of August – 50 years to the day since the Some 400 people gathered in McBryde signing of our Congressional Charter. For Garden as our President and CEO Chipper sta , volunteers, and supporters, this was Wichman was joined by the Garden’s new the big day when we came together to Chairman of the Board Tom Hewitt and celebrate all that had been accomplished visiting dignitaries Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard and renew our commitment to the Garden’s Carvalho and Irene Hirano, the wife of the founding principles of plant conservation, late Sen. Daniel Inouye, a life-long friend research, and education. and supporter of the Garden.
After introducing a scenic lookout named in honor o Sen nouye, hipper led all in attendance along the rst public wal down the new trail to an expansive part of the garden for a celebratory outdoor lunch, speeches, and “50th birthday” cake. 10 Fifty NTBG Annual Report 2014 11
SCIENCE
alf a century ago, after a decades-long n addition to our sta scientists, the e ort by li e minded individuals symposium featured respected leaders from who sought the creation of a national esteemed organizations such as the Royal Htropical botanical garden, our Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Royal Botanic organization was established on August Garden Edinburgh, the Botanical Research 19, 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson Institute of Texas, the Chicago Botanic signed our Congressional Charter into law Garden, the Smithsonian National Museum in ashington, D As such it was tting of Natural History, and others. that we chose to hold our autumn Board of Trustees meeting in the nation’s capital. Dr. Peter Raven and Professor Sir Ghillean In recognition of this momentous year, Prance, FRS, presented the symposium’s and with the goal of bringing together the opening and closing remarks, while Sir leading gures in science, conservation, and Tim Smit, KBE, co-founder of the United botanical gardens to discuss the planet’s Kingdom’s Eden Project, presented the most urgent environmental, cultural, and keynote address. hunger-related challenges, we organized “Agents of Change: Botanic Gardens in The symposium was followed by an NTBG- the 21st Century,” a one-day international hosted dinner that included a talk by New symposium that followed our Board of York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman Trustees meetings in Washington. on what he had learned about geopolitics and economics from nature and the “Agents of Change” was presented in environment. partnership with the Department of Botany, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, bringing together two dozen speakers to discuss four key topics: • Conserving plants in a changing world; • How to feed a global population of 9 billion; • Biocultural conservation; and • Operational sustainability of botanical gardens. 12 Fifty The Kampong 16
SCULPTURE
s we celebrated all year, we also In all, more than 1,000 hours of volunteer actively strived to reach new audiences labor helped clear brush, collect material, with whom we can partner for the and strip the leaves and small branches from Avital work ahead. We found one of dozens of truckloads of potentially invasive the best ways to accomplish this was by plants like ironwood, bamboo and eucalyptus connecting with our community through art. that were growing on steep slopes and After we extended an invitation to renowned along the periphery of McBryde Garden. environmental artist Patrick Dougherty, we agreed on November for a three week The stickwork project proved to be an artist-in-residency. excellent way to introduce new people to the Garden, while providing the opportunity Known for his large-scale stick sculptures for our sta to interact in a refreshingly (some as big as a cottage), Dougherty new setting, in a way that was cooperative, has created over 250 such sculptures, or creative, and fun. “stickworks” as he calls them, around the world. During his three-week stay Patrick Dubbed “the Birthday Palace” in honor of wor ed daily with our sta and some 100 our anniversary, the piece was completed volunteers to build a fantastic circular using only sticks, branches, and saplings. structure with pillars, doorways, windows Like Dougherty’s other sculptures, it is and a 25-foot-high dome that opens to a expected to remain standing for one to two leafy canopy overhead. years to delight and inspire thousands. Fifty social
hanks to the proliferation of mobile In addition to sharing our anniversary news communications and social media, and ongoing work to save plants, we took we’ve been able to share more advantage of the banner year to present an T news, photos, and video with more online feature called ‘Faces of NTBG,’ which people than ever before. Throughout our introduces some of our sta through short Golden Anniversary, we posted celebration autobiographic pro les ou’ll nd these updates on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and pro les on our Faceboo and Twitter pages in our e-newsletter “GoBotanical!” (#NTBGFaces).
As we begin our ne t 0 years, we invite you to get to know us better and oin us in our effort to advance plant science, conservation, and education. We hope you will sign up for our GoBotanical! newsletter, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and see what we’re up to on our YouTube page. 1964 2014 ven better, become a Garden member and learn how you can be a part of the vital work we do year in, year out. If you’ve never visited our gardens on aua i, aui, and in Florida, we hope you will do so this year. We believe there’s nothing more important than protecting the world’s tropical plants and the ecosystems that support them. With your support, we’ll have another ama ing 0 years! Fifty
As we begin our ne t 0 years, we invite you to get to know us better and oin us in our effort to advance plant science, TIP IN conservation, and education. We hope you will sign up for our GoBotanical! newsletter, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and see what we’re up to on our YouTube page. 19641964 1974 1974 1984 1984 1994 1994 2004 2004 2014 2014 ven better, become a Garden member and learn how you can be a part of the vital work we do year in, year out. If you’ve never visited our gardens on aua i, aui, and in Florida, we hope you will do so this year. We believe there’s nothing more important than protecting the world’s tropical plants and the ecosystems that support them. With your support, we’ll have another ama ing 0 years! Celebrating 0 years of perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of A , he Ka pon ( ori a) harter ro on ress Historical property in tropical regions for the nation. Kahanu ar en ( aui) Board of Trustee meet in Florida gifted A , Aquired land in east Maui rea ruit Institute 50th Anniversary ashington, D Opening of Biodiversity i ahu i reser e (Kaua‘i) Formed to study and Trail in McBryde Garden Nearly 1,000 acres donated preserve breadfruit diversity NTBG thanks its donors, visitors, Saving Hawaiian flora emphazised and local community for enabling us to enrich life through discovery, Groundbrea ing in Lawai alley scientific research, conversation otani a esear h enter and education programs. our Fourth building in headquarters support has made this all possible. complex LEED Gold