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ASHEVILLE — In 1987, when Reidsville native George Briggs first arrived in the area of Pisgah National Forest set aside for the North Carolina Arboretum, the only thing on the 424 acre site was a mobile home.

Now the arboretum, located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains just south of Asheville, features 65 acres of cultivated gardens and 10 miles of hiking and bike trails as well as indoor and outdoor exhibits .

Briggs has overseen it all, from his first day on the job when he and his five-member staff worked out of a trailer. This temporary office housed Briggs, an assistant director, secretary and three grounds workers, he said.

“Early on, we had a master plan that was underway,” Briggs said. Since the arboretum is on federal land, he said, it is a complicated site both administratively and economically.

The area includes a trout stream and a fair amount of elevation change, ranging from a low of 2,000 feet on Bent Creek to the high point of 2,500.

“Things like slopes were an important element of our planning,” he said. “We had to start out with basic planning on an undeveloped site.”

One of the first major projects was the construction of the first building, known then as the Visitor Education Building,  which took
21/2 years to complete at a cost of $2.5 million.

Although there are several other arboretums in the state, this one is unique in that it was designed to be a part of the state university system but it is not part of a campus, Briggs said. He reports to the university president.

“It’s essentially a university presence in the southern Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina,” he said.

“Our mission really focuses on education and economic development,” Briggs said.

According to Briggs the opening of the facility was “more an unfolding than an opening.”

After about two years, the plant production facility was completed and in 1996, the crew completed the first gardens and parking facilities.

One of the more recent developments came in 1998, when the main entrance road to the Blue Ridge Parkway was completed at a cost of $4.2 million.

“The beauty of that circumstance is we have a public entrance off the Parkway and have a backdoor entrance for staff and delivery and members so we can keep visitor traffic flowing,” Briggs said.

Over the years, the son of the late Howard and Lucy Briggs of Reidsville has overseen $35 million in capital development at the facility.

Today, he manages a budget of more than $3 million, as well as 70 employees and 200 volunteers.

The arboretum attracts a growing crowd of visitors now exceeding 275,000 people a year.

A 1965 graduate of Hargrave Military Academy, Briggs holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia, where he was one of four Thomas Jefferson Fellows, and undergraduate degrees in business administration and horticulture from Vanderbilt University and Virginia Tech, respectively.

He was an assistant professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., then spent six years as director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum system at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

In 2006, Briggs received one of 10 national “Environmental Hero” awards presented in Washington by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He is a founder of the Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction and serves as its president. CECI is a regional collaborative creating scientific and economic value in climate change information through partnership with the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

From 1995 to 1997, Briggs served as president of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), and was presented the 2006 APGA Service Award in San Francisco.

In 2000 he chaired the first-ever World Botanic Gardens Congress. With 30 partnering international public garden associations, the Asheville Congress crafted the “International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation,” an agenda now adopted by 435 gardens worldwide.

Briggs said he believes his greatest achievement has been building a world-class staff which includes individuals who work in a variety of areas: vegetation, administration, public safety, horticulture, public relations, development (fundraising) and signs.

He also has people who specialize in economic development, involved in biotechnology and a scientist doing research.

“It is a very broadly economic and education development institution,” Briggs said. “We have attracted a first-class group of people who have built a wonderful asset for the people of North Carolina that is contributing to the educational and economic future of the state.

Briggs and his wife, Sara Hunt Briggs, a former art teacher, have three children: Lash, 35; Hunt, 32; and Anna Plack, 28. His brother, Howard (Buddy) Briggs, still lives in Reidsville.

The family spends a lot of time outdoors, hiking and biking together.

In 2006, Briggs ran the Marine Corps Marathon. He and his daughter ran the New York Marathon in 2005.

“I’ll never be a speed person. I just do it for endurance training,” Briggs said. “I finished standing up and smiling — that was my goal.”

 
Ann Fish is a Reidsville native but has lived in Eden since 1979. She is a retired newspaper editor and reporter. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com