| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 67.18 |
| Liaison | Weston Dripps |
| Submission Date | Aug. 19, 2024 |
Amherst College
OP-4: Ecologically Managed Grounds
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.71 / 5.00 |
Weston
Dripps Director of Sustainability Sustainability |
4.1 Organic landscaping/grounds services
Online location of the institution’s IPM protocol:
Copy of the institution’s IPM protocol:
Do the institution’s landscaping/grounds services publish, on at least an annual basis, an inventory of the synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides used on campus grounds?:
Online location of the institution’s chemical inventory:
Copy of the institution’s most recent chemical inventory:
Do the institution’s landscaping/grounds services manage one or more sites or pilot projects without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s organic landscaping/grounds policies and practices:
The Amherst College Wildlife Sanctuary includes approximately 500 acres on campus that includes a diverse collection of open fields (both actively maintained and unmanaged), wetlands, flood plain woods, river, upland woods, plantation pines, and ponds and is an important place for classes, research, and campus and community recreation. The sanctuary is managed and maintained without the use of any chemicals, and is overseen by a sanctuary committee comprised of faculty, staff, and students.
The Book and Plow is our organic-practice campus farm. The farm is committed to sustainable agricultural practices and provides the dining hall with fresh produce. The farm offers a variety of educational, research, and community programs around food and farming and employs a large number of student workers. The farm has been cover cropping, applying compost, and developing ways to increase soil health and the surrounding ecology.
Two Acre Rewilding Plot
In consultation and support of the Amherst Landscape and Grounds team, a group of students have been rewilding a two acre plot on campus that had formerly been traditionally managed. Students have planted over 50 native shrubs and plants and 25 trees on the site. The site gets bush hogged once a year, but otherwise has been managed organically.
Have the institution’s landscaping/grounds services eliminated their use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides?:
Online resource affirming the organic status of the institution’s landscaping/grounds services:
Document affirming the organic status of the institution’s landscaping/grounds services:
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
4.2 Ratio of ecologically managed green space to total managed green space
Area protected or restored:
Area of tree canopy:
Area managed organically:
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following four figures:
Ratio of tree canopy to total managed green space:
Ratio of areas managed organically to total managed green space:
Points earned for indicator OP 4.2:
Optional documentation
An inventory of all land parcels owned by Amherst College is provided here. Of the 394.24 hectares owned by Amherst, we categorized 190.91 hectares as managed land. We decided to exclude pieces of property owned, but not actively managed by the college (we rent out a number of field to local farmers for use, own a few parcels of forested land away from campus that are managed by a land trust, have a private public golf course that is managed independently of the campus operations, have a number of rental properties for faculty that are self managed by the home owner).
Of the managed land, we classified land parcels in our Wildlife Sanctuary as protected or restored. Plots managed by Book and Plow Farm were measured using Google Earth and classified as organically managed. We also measured green space covered in tree canopy using Google Earth.
Additional documentation for this credit:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.