Saint John's University
IN-1: Innovation 1

Saint John’s Arboretum is a partnership between Saint John's Abbey, its 2,740 acres and Benedictine tradition of stewardship, and the mission of Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict to provide environmental education. Our mission is to:
Preserve native plant and wildlife communities of the Arboretum lands
Provide opportunities for education and research
Model practices of sustainable land use
Make accessible a natural environment that invites spiritual renewal
The land here includes hardwoods, restored wetlands, prairie and oak savanna. Practicing sustainable land use is an important aspect of our mission at Saint John’s Arboretum. Maple syruping, prescribed burns, and native plant restoration are a few examples of our ongoing projects.
Saint John’s Arboretum is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as a green forestry operation. This means that Saint John’s harvests timber on a rotating basis in order to promote forest diversity and the natural beauty of the land. Saint John’s has a long history of using the forest wisely. The Benedictine owners have a deep and enduring belief in responsible stewardship of the land and have done a great job of caring for the forests here. FSC-certification is important to Saint John's for three main reasons:
To provide a public statement of the quality of Saint John's forest management
To enhancing credibility with other forest landowners so Saint John’s Arboretum could do more to demonstrate and teach sustainable forestry.
To provide a greater opportunity to enhance awareness about sustainable forestry and its current and historical role at Saint John's
A key point of our mission is education through community events and environmental education pro-grams. These programs both target and utilize students of Saint John’s University. Through all of our land stewardship projects, we invite students to participate in a very hands-on way. Additionally, we hire many students which help to educate their fellow students and the larger community about the environment and the sustainable practices to which we adhere. As a result, the students at Saint John’s have a very unique opportunity to engage in issues of sustainability in a very authentic way.