An anonymous donor apparently has withdrawn $225,000 in support of county botanical programs because of concerns about a proposed merger between the L.A. County Natural History Museum and the county Dept. of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens.
County supervisors called a halt to a plan to merge the Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens with the county Museum of Natural History because the county's Economy and Efficiency Commission has not made sufficient progress on it and because the board needs to replace recently retired arboreta department head Francis Ching.
The California Arboretum Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation have reached an agreement that the foundation and parks and recreation will co-manage and be equally involved in decisions on the use of the Arboretum. An executive director will be hired.
The California Arboretum Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation are negotiating their roles for future management of the Arboretum.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum will transfer from the financially strapped Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta and Botanica to the larger Department of Parks and Recreation on January 1, 1993.