A knoll once covered with sumac and chaparral underwent a tree-lined transformation at the Wild Animal Park, when the Park Horticulture Department began planting a five-acre area to become the Nicholas T. Mirov Conifer Arboretum. Named after the noted plant physiologist and biochemist, the arboretum’s goals were the acquisition, propagation, and exhibition of conifer trees from around the world, including rare and endangered species. The arboretum started with trees from 110 different species, including pines of Mexico and the Caribbean, pines of Europe and Turkey, conifers of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and conifers of North America, as well as firs and spruce, cedars, cypress, and junipers. The rarest species was a desert cypress Cupressus dupreziana, seen in the foreground in this photo.