Delta College
OP-9: Landscape Management

The total campus area is 644.89 acres. The developed land (buildings, roads, agricultural land) is 60.66. Non-maintained land includes forested, trails, and rented agriculture fields is 435.94. The remaining 148.29 acres is IPM maintained.

Our campus signature courtyard and mini courts between buildings reduce building cooling loads in the summer and improve indoor air quality. Campus areas feature water efficient landscaping that utilizes plants suited to our local conditions. Using proper design techniques creates beautiful landscapes while benefitting the environment and reducing water use. Landscaping for the environment relies on the application of native groundcovers and deep-rooted plantings which require less irrigation. Their low and ‘no mow’ approach reduces mower fuel consumption and its pollutants.

Delta College has a strong commitment to the management of our area’s watershed assets and is proud of its heritage and progress toward the development of an environmentally sustainable campus. Underground cisterns on the north side of campus retain the building rain runoffs and excess ground water. Those waters are pumped into the building to support secondary water systems including toilet flushing, living wall hydration, with excess capacity being diverted for use in the lawn sprinkling system. A wet meadow contains water overage. South campus rainwater, following a natural hydrologic cycle, is conveyed from parking lot bioswale islands into detention ponds. Eventually, it flows into an adjacent wet meadow before discharge into the regional drainage system. Both East and West campus bioswales act as biological filters, with beds of sand and gravel and planted with deep-rooted native vegetation. East campus incorporates permeable pavement that allows for rain water and snow melt to move through the surface. It effectively traps dirt and debris, filtering their pollutants before they reach significant bodies of water.

The College’s Ground Maintenance Department has increasingly incorporated natural products and processes to maintain our lawns, courtyards, trees, and foliage. Fallen leaves and grass clippings are mulched back into soil to provide up to 25% of the lawn fertilization needs. Excess clippings are compost-piled to serve indirectly as a food source for the bacteria in the soil during the decomposition process. The composted material is later returned as humus to landscaped beds to further provide healthy turf such as decomposing thatch. Campus shrub trimmings and tree limbs are ground through a chipper to produce valuable plant material. The material is used in a variety of ways to enhance the campus landscape.

Our campus signature courtyard and mini courts between buildings reduce building cooling loads in the summer and improve indoor air quality. Campus areas feature water efficient landscaping that utilizes plants suited to our local conditions. Using proper design techniques creates beautiful landscapes while benefitting the environment and reducing water use. Landscaping for the environment relies on the application of native groundcovers and deep-rooted plantings which require less irrigation. Their low and ‘no mow’ approach reduces mower fuel consumption and its pollutants.

Undeveloped Areas / Wildlife: The college’s campus grounds include 436 undeveloped natural acres of trees and fields which serves as home to deer, wild turkey, and other wildlife. Some of acreage is divided among three rental contracts to local farms for the production of agriculture. Each farm supports resource responsible farming and exercises low-to-no-tillage, leaving stalks and stubbles on the surface of the soil. This practice reduces soil erosion by the wind and provides wildlife refuge. Snow Removal: Grounds Maintenance takes advantage of the road contour and applies salt only to a narrow strip along the centerline rather than salting the entire road surface. As traffic passes, salt is moved off the centerline, begins melting, and dissolves into liquid brine which drains toward both road shoulders for added coverage across the entire road. This pattern quickly gives vehicles clear pavement under at least two wheels while using less salt. It provides for vehicle safety yet reduces operating costs, supplies, and materials and redirects labor time to concentrate on clearing parking lots and sidewalks. Snow windrows to help prevent excess snow from blowing across the entrance drives. Windrows reduce plowing and salt applications and increases driver visibility and safety.