Page 63 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2013Q4

Major Cutbacks at the National
Bonsai and Penjing Museum

By Tom Elias, President, BCI.
The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, the oldest
and most comprehensive museum of its kind in the
U.S. and located at the U.S. National Arboretum in
Washington, D.C., closed to the public on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday of each week beginning
May 13, 2013. Although built mainly with private
funds and contributions of trees, stones, books, and
other artifacts from individuals over the last thirty
years, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the
parent agency overseeing the museum, announced
the restricted public use on April 26, 2013. Citing the
declining appropriations over the past several years
and a 7.8% across the board cut resulting from se-
questration and rescission in the 2013 appropriations
from Congress, Colien Hefferen, Director of the U.S.
National Arboretum, made the difficult decision as
part of broader cost cutting measures. The reductions
will be felt most in the public programs, and in the
gardens and education units. According to the USNA
website, the cuts will have the least impact on the core
research functions of the arboretum. position nearly 20 years ago. Volunteers in the bonsai
The National Arboretum is losing seven full-time po- museum will still be allowed to work Tuesday through
sition this year by not filling vacancies, but is not fur- Thursday. Over the last 20 years, the bonsai museum
loughing any employees. The arboretum will now have has tripled in size and many new garden features have
72 full-time equivalent position as compared to 110 been added. This places a strain on the arboretum

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