Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 58.19
Liaison Emma Blandford
Submission Date March 2, 2021

STARS v2.2

Georgia Institute of Technology
OP-9: Landscape Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 2.00 Anne Rogers
Sustainability Program & Portfolio Manager
Office of Campus Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total campus area:
411 Acres

Figures required to calculate the total area of managed grounds:
Area (double-counting is not allowed)
Area managed organically, without the use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides 0 Acres
Area managed in accordance with an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program that uses selected chemicals only when needed 304 Acres
Area managed using conventional, chemical-based landscape management practices 0 Acres
Total area of managed grounds 304 Acres

A brief description of any land excluded from the area of managed grounds:

The total campus area is inclusive of the footprint of the institution's buildings and any undeveloped land that is not formally protected.


Percentage of grounds managed organically:
0

A brief description of the organic landscape management program:
---

Percentage of grounds managed in accordance with an IPM program:
100

A copy of the IPM plan or program:
A brief description of the IPM program:

The objective of Georgia Tech’s IPM plan is to reduce the occurrence of pests while ensuring minimal human exposure to health risk, and inflicting minimal hazards on the environment. An effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of the following common-sense practices designed to reduce the amount of pesticides used in landscape management:

● Cultural practices - Selection of native plants, analysis of soil type, location and soil preparation, and planting beds free of weeds and disease material

● Identification - Accurate identification of the pest problems and the use of recommended products at proper rates

● Intervention - Physical (mowing, pulling and pruning) or chemical (pre-emergence and post emergence)

The IPM plan consists of the following steps

1. Set Action Threshold and Scouting: Determine acceptable damage threshold in the event of infestation and scout.
2. Prevention: Plant pest resistant varieties; native plants; keep plants healthy; fertilize and water regularly with proper soil preparation. Apply mulch 2 times per year to prevent weeds and increase soil moisture content.
3. Monitor and Identify Pests: Ensure proper pest identification, monitor life cycle and stages of pests, track seasonally to document increase/decrease of pest infestations.
4. Control: When possible, control pests with cultural, mechanical and conventional chemical control. Chemical intervention should be used as a last resort, and when used, should be applied at the recommended lower rate.


A brief description of the institution's approach to plant stewardship:

Georgia Tech campus vegetation plays both an ecological and a design role. It is the single most important player in making a sustainable campus and contributes to both beauty and environmental health. At Georgia Tech the sustainable use of vegetation is governed by ecological principles, site assessment, and interface with human use. Georgia Tech acknowledges the importance of using native plant species in landscaping practices as noted it improves the environment. Once, established native plants do not need pesticides, fertilizers, or watering as they accustomed to local condition; therefore, they are more resistant to pest problems. As a result, pesticides are seldom needed improving the water quality. In addition, the use of native plants reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation since they are used to the rainfall cycle of the local environment. This allows for a better stormwater management. To ensure that native vegetation is protected the campus IPM plan is used as it is vital to our efforts to protect native vegetation from contamination or spread of invasive species.


A brief description of the institution's approach to hydrology and water use:

Several bioswales are in place within the Georgia Tech campus, in addition to the implementation of the Eco-Commons. The Eco-Commons underlies in the idea of “hydrological convergence” in trying to restore a forest hydrology rather than a typical urban watershed. The Eco-Common includes expanding woodlands along with man-made storage and irrigation systems to intercept, infiltrate, harvest, and redistribute stormwater and condensate from buildings.


A brief description of the institution's approach to landscape materials management and waste minimization:

Grounds keeping waste is generally composted in place - for Grass clippings are recycled through the use of mulching mowers, reducing nitrogen requirements of the soil, and minimizing impact on landfill waste. Leaves are either a) blown into bed areas to serve as natural mulch for plant material, or b) removed to a compost area, where they are allowed to break down until they can be used for soil amendments, etc. The Facilities Landscape Department recycles 98% of all the grass clippings, 80% of all wood products, 97% of fallen leaves and about 25% of pruning products from shrubs on campus.


A brief description of the institution's approach to energy-efficient landscape design:

The current Campus Master Plan (http://www.space.gatech.edu/masterplan/index.html) includes sustainability as a main focus.


A brief description of other sustainable landscape management practices employed by the institution:

Georgia Tech is located in a temperate climate that receives little to no snow or ice on roadways. When needed, Georgia Tech’s Office of Emergency Preparedness will closely monitor weather conditions and assist Facilities Operations and Maintenance in being aware of the potential for a winter storm. The campus begins to reduce the negative impacts of snow and ice early, before they can accumulate and therefore become a bigger problem than necessary. This is done first through snow plow blades that can be attached to trucks and second through an Ice-melt a low concentrated brine solution in addition to sand. No rock salt is used as it kills the plants.


Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainable landscape management program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

[1]Tree Campus USA
[2]STARS REPORTING
[3]Landscape Plan
[4]PGMS Accreditation


[1]Tree Campus USA
[2]STARS REPORTING
[3]Landscape Plan
[4]PGMS Accreditation

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.