Mount Royal University
OP-9: Landscape Management

Managed grounds includes parking lots and roadways (29 acres), and other developed and undeveloped recreational space (52 acres). Building coverage (17 acres, plus Residence 24 acres) and the Springbank Campus, where the grounds are not regularly managed, with the exception of contracted snow removal, are excluded from the reported managed grounds.

The Mount Royal Grounds team currently applies a pest management program that includes thresholds, monitoring, prevention, and control techniques, however documentation of the IPM Program is still in progress.

- Insecticidal soaps and horticultural oil are used instead of pesticides as a first line of defense. - Half an acre of tall fescue was incorporated to the landscape. It only required mowing twice a year and requires less fertilizer and water than other grass. - Ecotraction, a natural volcanic product, is used for snow/ice. - Morganite, an organic fertilizer, is used twice a year. - The sports fields are sprayed with composted tea 4 times a year. They are also aerated, and top dressings that incorporate nutrients, and sand back into the soil.

- Intentional plant selection that meets the following criteria: drought tolerant, encourage pollinators, increase diversity of species of plants, incorporate healthy selection of native plants. - Use of fescue sod in sloped areas. - Relocate trees and shrubs from areas allotted for construction to prevent them from being cut down - Maintain tree health using proper pruning techniques (avoid over pruning, cosmetic pruning, and pruning at the wrong time of year) - Replace trees that have been removed because of death, disease or construction - Introduce a wide selection of trees on campus to increase species diversity which can help reduce the potential for losing large numbers of trees from an invading insect or disease (such as Dutch Elm disease or Cottony Psyllid). - Use suitable tree species for specific locations (matching a tree’s needs to its environmental conditions improves tree health).

- Reduce amount of water being used by eliminating irrigation in East Residence, parking lot islands, Interior, Upper Arts, and Gautier courtyard (eliminating irrigation means the turf goes through a dormancy period which also reduces the amount of maintenance). - Irrigate mostly at night and in the early morning to reduce amount of water lost through evaporation. - Shut down scheduled watering on rainy days - Check nozzles and rotation of heads to reduce amount of overwatering and runoff - Use water retention crystals in planters to reduce amount of watering - Aeration done every other fall to improve soil makeup and water retention. - Beds are mulched to retain moisture in the soil, reduce the number of weeds, and reduce soil erosion. - New technology including a weather station, grounds pogo stick, and special turf sunglasses have been added to irrigation system to better manage soil makeup and irrigation schedule.

- Trees are chipped and use for mulch in beds (provided they're not infested). - Ride on and push mowers have mulching blades. 80 tons of grass per year was previously sent to landfill and this has been reduced significantly with the incorporation of mulching blades. - Weeds, leaves, and grass are composted. - Pallets and scrap metal are recycled; greenhouse pots, wood, and other materials are reused when possible.

Trees are planted around main building, sidewalks, and roadways to reduce heat damage and encourage energy efficiency.

Snow removal: - Use an ecofriendly product called Ecotraction to reduce the amount of salt used. - Move snow piles to reduce the amount of melting / freezing on roadways and on sidewalks which reduces salt usage and water loss to runoff or evaporation. (Where the snow is being piled affects how much melting / freezing occurs on the sidewalks, which affects how much salt is used or how much water is lost.) - Push snow into turf/bed areas whenever possible so the soil can absorb it (less water lost to runoff or evaporation) - Re-use the gravel collected in the spring from snow removal when we can (we used this gravel at the Wyckham rock-wall, and the Tower rock-wall when they were being built).