University of Connecticut
OP-T2-21: Tree Campus USA

The first standard for becoming a Tree Campus is to have a Campus Tree Advisory Committee. The University of Connecticut has an Arboretum Committee that helps to protect, promote, catalogue, and manage the trees and shrubs on campus. The committee consists of students, faculty and community members that are dedicated to the plant life at UConn. http://www.uconnarboretum.uconn.edu/members.php The second standard for becoming a Tree Campus is to have a Campus Tree Care Plan. The Arboretum Committee created a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Connecticut's Building and Grounds Committee and University of Connecticut’s Arboretum Committee concerning the protection of the campus trees and shrubs. The University also created the Storrs Campus Landscape Master Plan that presents the landscape plans for the Storrs campus. The plan includes planting guidelines and lists of plants for the entire campus as well as planting recommendations for specific areas of the campus. http://www.uconnarboretum.uconn.edu/content/Arboretum_MOU.pdf http://fas.uconn.edu/about/Landscape_Master_Plan_and_Design_Guidelines.pdf The third standard for becoming a Tree Campus is to have a Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expenditures. The University of Connecticut’s Building Services and Landscape department of the Facilities Operations on campus has an annual budget item specifically tailored to the care and maintenance of the trees on campus. The fourth standard for becoming a Tree Campus is to have an Arbor Day observance. The University of Connecticut has held Earth Day Celebrations since 2005 which include observances of the trees and shrubs on campus. This year, an Arbor Day Celebration will be added along with the Earth Day celebration to recognize the vegetation at UConn. Many flora oriented vendors are scheduled to be in attendance at this years’ celebration including the Sierra Club, UConn EcoGarden, UConn’s EcoHouse Learning Community, and the UConn Arboretum Committee. In recent years, a tree planting has also become a part of the celebration, adding to the campus’ tree awareness. http://ecohusky.uconn.edu/outreach/edsf.html The fifth standard for becoming a Tree Campus is to complete a service learning project. As stated above, the university has recently been making an effort to plant at least one tree every year in the observance of Arbor Day. This project helps increase awareness on campus about trees and is a good opportunity to make a positive impact on campus. In the past, other service projects completed on campus have included tagging trees on campus using non-detrimental techniques and creating a “Campus Tree Touring Guide”. This year, plans have been made to perform the necessary loosening of the tree tags in order to avoid injuring the trees by having the trees grow over them. http://www.uconnarboretum.uconn.edu/content/TREE_GUIDE_CAMPUS_WALK.pdf

The University of Connecticut is currently in the process of compiling information for the submission of its application to the Tree Campus USA program.