Sandpoint, ID

Located in the Lakeview park is the North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum. The arboretum is a great experience for anyone looking to see the majority of the local flora. The are eight main habitats that are found along the twisting dirt path that wraps around the arboretum.

These habits are all conveniently marked with signs telling you the name of each plant you are looking at. We started by the entrance where the cabin is and began our journey towards the dry rock habitat, where we found Kinnikinnick, a low shrub that grows in the dry rock habitat, also the name of the society that takes care of the arboretum. The next exhibit was the young forest, a grove of freshly planted trees, hence the name. Near the young forest was the interior rain forest, keep in mind it is a North Idaho rainforest, so there are no monkeys, only a few squirrels hanging out in the shade.

The path wrapped around the meadow habitat and the dry forest habitat. The path returned back along the side of the cabin where we began and we found the wild medicines exhibit, the only exhibit that has nonnative plants, as they were brought to the area as it was being settled. After we had checked out the medicine exhibit, we noticed that there was a whole other side of the arboretum. We walked along the path finding a very curious squirrel who was scampering all over the path in front of us and then decided to come right for me! My friend of course made fun of me as I was the one now scampering out of the way. We walked over to the moist forest habitat and found a not so delightful smell, which you could smell most of the time anywhere in the park and if you a local of Sandpoint you know just what the smell is, as you know the local sewage and water treatment plant is also located on the edge of Lakeview park.

We quickly moved upwind and after that experience I would suggest, if you can, pick a day that has a slight breeze to the west! Found at the east end of the arboretum are three groves of Larch, Aspen and the meditation grove, along with the final habitat, the wetland habitat. We had completed our peaceful journey around the arboretum, which is free to visitors and open daily. I did not see any signs of when they were closed, but I would suggest visiting during the spring, summer and fall, as the snow would cover most of the exhibits. The arboretum is found on South Ella street in the Lakeview park, near Memorial Field. There is a free parking lot located near the cabin entrance along with street parking if it is needed.