Clarkson’s recertification to the Tree Campus USA program has been accepted. To qualify for the program a university has to meet 5 standards:
- Standard 1 – Campus Tree Advisory Committee
- Standard 2 – Campus Tree Care Plan
- Standard 3 – Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expenditures
- Standard 4 – Arbor Day Observance
- Standard 5 – Service Learning Project
Some Clarkson Tree Highlights in 2019:
- Number of trees planted = 68
- Tree Purchases = over $14,000
- Purchased a bucket truck for tree maintenance and removal
- Hundreds of hours of labor went to planting, maintenance, and removal of trees
- iTree analysis of campus trees’ benefits was carried out by a student intern
- Maple trees were planted along maple avenue during our Arbor Day observance
Goals from Clarkson’s Tree Care Plan:
Goal 1: Clarkson University will have in the next century a tree canopy that is healthy, bio-diverse, aesthetically-pleasing, resilient to human-activities and climate change, and that provides adequate ecosystem services.
Goal 2: Decisions about management of priorities for the CU tree canopy will be done democratically and collectively with input from all stakeholders. This will include a CU Tree Committee and CT Campus Tree Plan, which will be reviewed and updated regularly.
Goal 3: CU will provide the resources and necessary training of personnel to maintain and improve the CU tree canopy.
Goal 4: Best practices and regulations will be implemented that protect the health of trees on campus. Management of campus trees will adhere to the Best Practices detailed in ANSI A300 Standards of the Tree Care Industry Association (https://www.tcia.org/TCIA/BUSINESS/ANSI_A300_Standards_/TCIA/BUSINESS/A300_Standards/A300_Standards.aspx).
Goal 5: The CU tree canopy will be recognized as an educational resource, and knowledge about and maintenance of the tree campus will be incorporated in classroom and extra-classroom activities.
Goal 6: The CU tree campus will be a focus of activities for students, faculty & staff, alumni, and the community, including through Arbor Day events.
Goal 7: Current and long-range planning of the campus landscape will include strategic planning of the tree canopy, and will incorporate data from the Tree Committee’s GIS database and priority strategic objectives. This planning should include consideration of returning some managed developed areas (e.g. mown areas) to natural vegetation if maintenance otherwise provides little benefit.
Goal 8: CU Tree Committee and other stakeholders will draft and implement a Forest Management Plan for naturally forested areas of campus.
Goal 9: CU project planning will assess and include lifecycle tree care management costs, labor, and other resources when incorporating landscaping and tree planting / maintenance in campus projects.
Goal 10: Contractors will be informed of tree care best practices, will adhere to the Best Practices, and will appropriately mitigate any damage to the CU tree campus as a component of project completion.
If you’d like to learn more about our Tree Care Plan and Clarkson Tree Committee please reach out to Alex French or Scott Richardson.