Campus Tree Tours at the University of Washington 

Guided Campus Tree Tours are offered free to the public each month to supplement the self-guided versions on this website. Tours generally last about 2 hours, but participants are welcome to leave early if they need. All tours are outdoors so please plan accordingly and dress for the weather! 

Upcoming tour dates are posted here once they are scheduled. Register for Tours using this form. Please arrive on time to ensure we do not depart without you (the tour usually departs the meeting location within 10 minutes). If you have a club, organization, or group who would like to schedule a special tour, visit the Guided Tree Tours webpage for more information.

To find out about these tours in your social media feed, you can follow @campus_tree_tours on Instagram, or find Campus Tree Tours on Facebook.

• Sunday, March 29th (10am-12pm or 1pm-3pm): The Cherry Blossom Tree Tour. 

  • Meet at the front entrance of Denny Hall on the University of Washington Seattle Campus.

  • Note: This tour is being conducted at two separate times to accommodate high demand. The first tour will take place from 10am-12pm, and the second from 1pm-3pm. Both will depart from the same location.

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• Sunday, April 12th (1pm-3pm): Brockman Memorial Tree Tour. 

  • Meet at the Bus Shelter on Stevens Way just west of Anderson Hall.

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• No Tour this May (the guide is getting married)!

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• Sunday, June 14th (1pm-3pm): The Climate Change Tree Tour.

  • Meet at the front entrance of the Husky Union Building on the University of Washington Seattle Campus.

The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Since time immemorial, the Coast Salish peoples have been the original stewards of these lands. Colonization and its modern systems of oppression continue to disrupt their work. We hope that this acknowledgement serves as a first step in our commitment to authentic relationships with Native and Indigenous communities moving forward. 

Additionally, we wish to acknowledge the false narrative applied to the discovery of many of these species. The majority of these species were not in fact discovered by the generally white contingent of botanists arriving in lands besieged by European colonizers, but by the peoples who have lived on those lands since time immemorial. Indigenous peoples have developed connections with these trees going back generations. 

We would like to acknowledge too that many of these species have distinct practical and medicinal value which have long been known to the first peoples of their native ranges. Credit for the discovery of these properties is too often given to colonizers, who did not in fact "discover" the uses of these plants. Where possible we have avoided common names which memorialize such botanists whose work disregarded the knowledge of Indigenous peoples.

This tour is dedicated to the memory of Professor C. Frank Brockman (1902-1985), who capped an influential, productive career in forestry and outdoor recreation by producing in 1980 the original University of Washington tree tour. Edited by Louise M. Hastie, that eight-page publication featured 81 campus trees, and had to be reprinted by popular demand. 

Along with the tour, Brockman authored five articles about campus trees for the U.W. Arboretum Bulletin. In 1968, the year he retired from the U.W. College of Forestry (now the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences), his best-selling "Golden Guide" to Trees of North America was released. Brockman's enthusiasm and love of sharing knowledge suggests he would love to see a continued appreciation for the beautiful trees on the U.W. campus. 

The newly updated Brockman Memorial Tree Tour reflects a new information and fresh presentation created to ensure that future students and community members may continue to engage with this resource and find themselves inspired and more connected to our wonderful green neighbors.