Keene State College
OP-10: Landscape Management

The campus has proactive planning for grounds maintenance. The fundamental concept is that healthy plants are resilient plants. They use 3" mowing heights wherever possible, creating healthier grass. They use compost tea and mulch produced on campus to feed trees and plantings. Local experts are called in (such as the local county extension agent) to help identify issues and determine treatment plans, if necessary. Chemicals are used as a last resort and in strictly limited and controlled circumstances.

Plants are selected from University of Rhode Island's Sustainable Plant List for trees and shrubs that require less inputs, but thieve in this climate. 1000 Trees have been inventoried by Bartlett Tree to monitor their overall health, fertility needs and pruning requirements.

Whenever possible Grounds uses plants that are indigenous to the region or have shown desirable characteristics for this area. "The right plant for the right place".

In addition to using 3" mowing heights everywhere on campus (except the athletic fields) which produces healthier grass, the mowing machines are all mulching mowers. Leaf, garden and tree debris is composted and screened on campus and used as soil amendment or mulch on the campus grounds. The compost also contains pre-plate waste from the Zorn Dining Commons. This has helped eliminate the need for purchased mulch. Mulch is blended with aged wood chips to mimic forest duff, aiding tree health and growth and lessens our reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

Along with our own Leaf Compost, Organic Compost is a regular supplement to Campus Lawns to increase nutrient availability and drought tolerance.

We do our best to duplicate nature by our use of the Leaf Mulch, mentioned earlier. We also will use a Mulching mower to mulch in remaining leaves and grass clippings.

We leave a 75' Buffer Zone along the Ashuelot River where permissible. We also have created a Buffer Zone around the Brickyard Pond and we do not fertilize in those areas

The KSC Grounds department uses a variety of techniques to reduce the environmental impacts of snow and ice. They use a professional weather service to get up to date and local condition information, ground temperature readings to determine the proper "product" to use and thoughtful and careful management of equipment. Ice Ban is a trademarked product, derived from brewer's wastes. It is significantly less toxic and less corrosive to plantings than salt. Where we do need to use salt, it is pretreated with the Ice Ban, making it much more effective and requiring significantly smaller amounts. The crew has developed techniques for pre-spraying roads and walkways before storms, since the Ice Ban works well as a pre-treatment, preventing the buildup of ice. We have eliminated the use of sand, which causes its own problems. Where possible, snow brooms are used to help clear snow, lessening damage to edge plantings. Each person in the Grounds department has assigned areas of responsibility in each season, including snow storm and storm clean up. This makes the vehicle use as efficient as possible, reducing redundancy and fuel use.

Several years back we did a Wildlife Incentive Project with the USDA at the Athletic Complex. Even though the agreement period has lapsed, we continue the cultural practices, in that location. Those practices include delayed mowing, native plantings and controlling invasive species. Keene State College is fortunate to own 400 acres of pristine wilderness on Lake Nubanusit in the towns of Nelson and Hancock, NH; a 25 minute car ride from campus. The acreage is held in conservation and is kept in its natural state. No camping is allowed and although there are no hiking trails, it is open for public use. The best access is by boat.