Cornell Botanic Gardens is responsible for the natural beauty of the Cornell University campus, overseeing three distinct areas: cultivated garden, arboretum, and natural areas. Together these comprise one-third of the Ithaca, New York, campus, and with off-campus natural areas, a total of 3,600 acres. We operate as a museum with living collections that serve as a foundation for research and teaching by Cornell faculty, students, and the surrounding community; and as a tourist destination for hikers, gardeners, and travelers across the Northeast U.S. Cornell Botanic Gardens is the lead organization, both among university gardens and public gardens globally, in advocating for its peers to work individually and collectively to advance conservation of biological and cultural diversity.