A VIBRANT PLACE FOR OUTDOOR EXHIBITS, SOCIALIZING AND RECREATION

In summer 2009, planting crews will bring to life the museum's new landscape design plans, which include a 2-acre common that celebrates the environment. A series of benches will line the common's northern edge, providing a place to have lunch, chat with friends and capitalize on summer light.

The museum's landscape architect, Charles Anderson, was inspired by one of the most enigmatic and dynamic icons of the Southcentral Alaska landscape-the birch tree. The common will feature an urban birch forest with trees harvested from a commercial development near Big Lake. The trees will be about 16 feet tall when first planted and will be cared for by an arborist and grounds staff.

Clearings carved into the forest will be surfaced with turf and hardscape, creating areas for gathering, sculptures and group activity. The largest of these clearings will become a civic common that spills from the new museum entrance into the heart of the museum site.