Principia College
OP-9: Landscape Management

Within our Tree Campus USA TREE CARE PLAN (see upload), Campus Standard 2 references "Campus Tree General Care Guidelines" which read, in part, "The four-tiered approach to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is emphasized, as follows: Set Action Thresholds (be aware of pest populations or environmental conditions that indicate that pest control action must be taken); Monitor and Identify Pests (recognize that not all insects, weeds, and other living organisms require control); Prevention (manage the grounds to prevent pests from becoming a threat; e.g., prioritize native plantings); and Control (once monitoring, identification, and action thresholds indicate that pest control is required, and preventive methods are no longer effective or available, evaluate the proper control method both for effectiveness and risk)."

The majority of the land on Principia's campus is native mature forest and bluff prairie. An office of Lands Stewardship professionally manages all native acreage both for its wilderness value and for selected recreational and research purposes (see also, "Optional Fields").

The Principia Forest was FSC-certified (our logging program was halted, so we halted the FSC certification in 2017) and remains compliant with best management practices, including educational purposes, scientific studies, and licensed, sustainable deer hunting. Bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) is our main invasive species and this species is the target of an active control/removal program. Our Lands Stewardship Management office contracts removal, including approved spraying in areas of high density. In areas with lower honeysuckle density, the college's Lands Stewardship Student Work Crew cuts/removes honeysuckle by hand. All plans relating to planting on managed acreage require that new plants and trees are native, ecologically important species.

The century-old campus is built on a network of river bluff ravines, and Facilities is perennially concerned with the integrity of these ravines. Some paved surfaces utilize semi-permeable materials, and erosion risks are identified for mitigation. Historic farm ponds, native wetlands, and smaller order tributaries (to the Mississippi) are identified and protected from pollution. It would be inappropriate to suggest that there are no issues with ravine erosion, but mitigation plans are always under active development and implementation by a professional Facilities Department.

All (organic) landscape waste is mulched on site or provided to St Louis Composting. Larger materials (e.g., lumber) is chopped and made available to the campus community as fire wood, re-purposed into campus bench seating, or made available through a network of local rural buyers.

The college seeks to maximize the use of native species in its landscaping, minimize chemical application (see OP-10), and minimize the use of irrigation (which is directed only at the Chapel Green and athletic fields). Students have planted native gardens at residence halls, made recommendations for the implementation of rain gardens, refurbished a community garden with an apiary and native plantings, and incorporated permaculture design principles into several campus projects. The campus is tree-dense, and the trees provide wind breaks and temperature moderation.

Plowing is rare on our small, rural campus, which is closed to vehicle traffic during significant snowfall. Small plows are operated in-house. The Facilities Department uses one ice melt product on our roads and parking areas, and another for pedestrian walkways. The roads/parking product is a combination of 50% “Eco-Sand” and 50% Sodium Chloride (purchased in bulk). The walkway product is called “Lighting” (purchased in 50 lb bags). The Director of Facilities, in partnership with the Chemistry Department, did extensive research before purchasing the “Eco-Sand”, which is an inexpensive coal slag or cinder material and a by-product of electrical generation activities at power plants and found that it met foundational criteria (e.g., less corrosive on our equipment, concrete walkways, asphalt paving, and adjacent landscaping and environment; effective at low temperatures; locally available).