Sam Popham's Arboretum

Sam Popham's Arboretum

Sam Popham's Arboretum (Photo credit: Dilon Fernando, Google Street View) Sam Popham's Arboretum is a dry zone arboretum situated in Dambulla in Matale District, Sri Lanka. It is considered a typical example of restoration of a degraded forest using assisted natural regeneration in the dry zone (Madurapperuma et al., 2016). The arboretum is presently managed by the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS) and Rukrakaganno, a nature conservation society. History The arboretum was established in 1963 by F. H. (Sam) Popham on an abandoned land of Chena of 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) bought by him. He promoted the growth of natural seedlings by the method of Assisted Natural Regeneration (Popham Method) to eventually restore a secondary dry forest. The arboretum was gifted by Popham to the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Kandy in 1989 to be used as a site for conservation, research and education purposes. It was added 27 acres (10.92 ha) in the same year, through the …