Campus trees tell Chico’s story
Trees are intertwined with our campus history. Each one has a story to tell, and I'm kind of a repository of those stories.
The Chico State campus is a beautiful mix of manicured lawns, towering trees, colorful gardens, and natural riparian habitat, charming prospective students and other campus visitors. And when our alums are asked about their fondest Chico memories, they often talk of the trees that shaded their studies here.
The natural beauty of the campus leads many visitors to consider it among the most beautiful in California. One of the campus’s most important—and most active—advocates is Wes Dempsey, professor emeritus of biology. Dempsey, selected as the College of Natural Sciences’ first distinguished professor emeritus, was part of a university culture that helped foster Chico State’s sustainability movement. He has been a passionate defender of the campus’s trees for more than half a century.
Dempsey has designed and led tours of the campus arboretum for many years. Even though retired for nearly 20 years, Dempsey continues to lead the tours, his talks sprinkled with stories of campus history and many of the uses the native Mechoopda Indians had for local plants. “So, I’m still teaching,” says Dempsey. The free 90-minute tours begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Bidwell Mansion gazebo (for tour dates, call 530-898-6222).
The origins of the campus arboretum reach back more than a century. Soon after the state selected Chico as the site of the Northern Branch State Normal School in 1887, General John Bidwell, Chico’s founder, donated eight acres from his cherry orchard on which to build the campus that became CSU, Chico. In 1910, Annie Bidwell gave two more acres to the school, and later donated an orange orchard.
On Arbor Day in 1982, the entire 119-acre CSU, Chico campus was officially dedicated as an arboretum.
“Trees are intertwined with our campus history,” says Dempsey. “Each one has a story to tell, and I’m kind of a repository of those stories. I’m trying to teach science without people knowing that’s really happening.”
Professor Emeritus Wes Dempsey stands in front of a dawn redwood, one of his favorite trees on the Chico State campus.