Cost: Free, no pre-registration required

Meet at the front entrance of the Life Sciences Building on the UW Seattle Campus.

On this February guided tour of the campus grounds, we look at specimens on campus that can be referred to as "Fossil Trees".  A fossil tree is a type of tree which still grows on the earth today, but can also be traced deeply back into the fossil record. These trees are fascinating because they show off traits that appeared under incredibly ancient conditions, for example, reproduction habits that likely evolved to help the species survive browsing by dinosaurs! Because of their extensive history, these trees provide us with unrivaled windows into the past, and on this free tour we will take time to visit examples of the largest and tallest tree species on the planet, trees that first evolved 200 million years ago, and even a species so rare it was only first scientifically described in the 1990s. This tour is open to the public with no registration required. Please dress for the weather!

UW Campus Tree Tours are conducted by Theodore Hoss, an alum of the Biology and School of Environmental and Forest Sciences programs at the University of Washington. While a student, he helped redesign the campus' historic Brockman Memorial Tree Tour, and has maintained and updated the website and curated the campus tree tours ever since. Theodore is currently employed as a Gardener with the UW Grounds Shop, and has worked for years as an environmental educator, providing interpretation on forests, wildlife, and human connections to the landscape. He continues studying trees and forests through a Natural Resources graduate program at Oregon State University. He is a member of the Arboretum Bulletin Editorial Board, and enjoys backpacking, kayaking, hiking, and just about anything else outside in his free time. If you have any questions regarding the tours, or would like to request some form of accommodation, feel free to reach out at tdhoss@uw.edu.