University of New Hampshire
OP-9: Landscape Management

Fifty acres are buildings, parking lots or other impervious surfaces. And UNH has 800 acres of experimental agricultural land.

A number of UNH's farms are on certified organic land: e.g. the Organic Dairy Research Center (https://colsa.unh.edu/facility/organic-dairy-research-farm) and the Campus-Community Farm which includes twenty acres managed by the Organic Garden Club (https://www.instagram.com/organicgardenclub_unh/). 

They are managed as integrated agro-ecosystems that include biological, physical, and human-related components. They offer a platform for research and education across many disciplines (areas of study include dairy nutrition and feeds, pasture quality, forage production, compost production, and management of the associated streams, soils, woodlands, and other natural resources).

Faculty scientists and farm staff work cooperatively to undertake these activities while complying with organic certification practices as well as permaculture principles and practices. This involves deep-seated knowledge and careful consideration of geography, topography, and microclimatic conditions, to inform sophisticated site and systems design practices for the mixture of woodland, pastureland, and cropland that comprise these sites; close monitoring of soil condition, composition and health; use of native species and avoidance of non-native or invasive species; protection and enhancement of naturally occurring wetlands, waterways and buffer zones (including through the avoidance of excessive or inappropriate spreading of fertilizer); carefully targeted irrigation practices; runoff-control and minimization; and avoidance of synthetic materials use, including petrochemical-based materials (i.e. plastics), wherever possible. The use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides is prohibited on these spaces.

The following are the standards, policies and procedures used by UNH Grounds and Events to implement UNH’s commitment to IPM for UNH’s core campus:

1) Action Thresholds – Action thresholds for chemical intervention on UNH grounds are determined by trained landscape professionals working in close collaboration with UNH agricultural extension staff, and/or staff from UNH athletics. No intervention is made unless the presence of a pest is deemed to cause a potential safety hazard to athletes due to degraded turf quality, economic hazard due to potential for widespread damage to existing grounds/plantings, or ecological hazard due to potential ecosystem disruption.

2) Monitoring and Identifying Pests – Grounds crews are trained to do regular scouting for insect presence on all cultivated campus grounds as part of their regular maintenance activities, in order to identify and curtail outbreaks or infestations as early as possible. In particular, crews continually update maps of UNH grounds where European chafer grub damage has occurred—this is UNH’s most consistent pest problem. Maps from past and present years are compared to determine where treatment may be necessary. The use of the detailed maps showing turf damage enables a timely application of minimal and minimally-toxic pesticide, preventing use of a more toxic material that would be required for control later in the insect’s life cycle.

3) Preventing and removing conditions that attract pests – To maintain plant health, irrigation is undertaken lightly but frequently, employing drip/in-ground irrigation systems wherever possible. Fields and landscaped areas are top-dressed with compost approximately once per month to enhance soil quality and promote healthy plantings.

For its athletic fields, UNH utilizes endophyte-enhanced cultivars of perennial ryegrass or tall fescue, as these are less desirable to common surface-feeding pests such as chinch bugs, sod webworms, and bluegrass billbugs. For landscaped areas, UNH employs natural barriers, such as polyester row covers, cutworm collars and fences to prevent pest access.

To control white grub species such as the European chafer, UNH practices hollow-tine cultivation in the spring (which provides some mechanical control of grubs during their heavy feeding time). To prevent the spread of disease, equipment (for mowing/seeding/pruning or other cultivation) is washed before moving from infected areas to uninfected areas.

4) Controlling Pests – UNH Grounds and UNH Athletics are trained to use natural and biological control agents as a first resort and whenever possible.

Insecticides: The University of New Hampshire’s IPM practices include no regular spraying of insecticides on trees and shrubs for pests. When a major pest outbreak does occur and spraying is warranted, the most environmentally friendly method is used that will still give good success of control. When insecticide use is necessary, preference is given to biological insecticides, based on living entomopathogenic (infecting insects) organisms, usually bacteria, fungi or viruses, or which contain entomopathogenic products from such organisms. They are often the least toxic species-specific option for controlling insect pests. For example, entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) are used to control white grubs.

Herbicides: For weed control, preference is given to natural alternatives such as clove oil, citric acid and/or acetic acid whenever possible. If an herbicide is deemed necessary, spot treatments of the effective amount of pesticide is applied from carefully calibrated sprayers, instead of performing area-wide application (thereby killing only the targeted plant). Fungicides: To date, UNH Facilities personnel do not apply fungicides on campus grounds.

These efforts allow Grounds and Roads crews to choose the least-toxic effective material for control and time the applications to minimize the amount of material required. This also releases fewer chemicals into the ground, the water supply, and the air. It has also greatly reduced the chemical exposure to the Grounds and Roads crews who are in charge of treating these problem areas, as well as anyone who uses university grounds.

The Sustainability Institute through the UNH Watershed and Ecosystem Task Force collaborates with academic classes, faculty, and UNH Facilities  to promote and maintain sustainable landscaping throughout campus for the education and enjoyment of the community, the enhancement of natural systems, and the protection of biodiversity. All groups worked closely with sustainable landscaping experts to develop a UNH Landscape Master Plan that became part of the umbrella UNH Campus Master Plan in 2004, and was updated and published in 2021. 

Preserving the vitality of the campus’ trees and plants is paramount to preserving the character and integrity of the campus landscape. Fron 2018-2020, the Ecosystem Task Force worked to update UNH's Planning, Design and Construction Standards to strengthen the degree to which trees are protected during construction projects, ensuring that the landscape looks as mature and cohesive as possible. Trees that are landmarks, significant in form or serve a vital aesthetic role are be given special consideration in the evaluation process.

The 2021 Landscape Management Plan includes four guiding principles, beginning with "1) Balance the needs of the built and natural environment." It goes on to say, "Biodiversity has always been an intrinsic characteristic of the campus landscape and should be fostered wherever possible.The university has the opportunity to repair and prevent damage to the natural environment, while maintaining the collegiate image of its grounds.Through proper management of open spaces, UNH can mitigate the impact of previous and future changes to the built environment on storm water run-off, water quality, aquifer recharge, air quality, and landscape components. Open space planning shall respect the tenets of sustainability and recognize the crucial role that campus grounds serves in sustaining a healthy and resilient community."

This guiding principle is operationalized by the campus utilities department and the director of the UNH Stormwater Center,; who are together responsible for Comprehensive Watershed Protection Planning and Reporting, and developing training and reference materials to support Grounds and Events staff and UNH contractors in utilizing best management practices to conserve water and protect water quality.

Over the past several years UNH has sought and secured certificaton as a Bee Campus USA. UNH Grounds works with teams of interns and staff from the UNH Sustainabilty Institute to install and maintain new polllinator gardens to be used as a platform for community education and engagement.

UNH snow and ice removal adheres to the broader UNH Stormwater Management Plan. Salt-spreading trucks are calibrated to ensure proper distribution of salt. Streets are swept twice a year to collect sand put down during winter storm events. The volume of sand collected is reported within the Stormwater Management Plan, and sand budgets take into account the volume used in the previous year. There are approximately 550 catch basins on campus, which collect stormwater and snow melt, and are part of the cleaning and repair program. An outside company cleans the catch basins, and this is overseen by UNH Utilities.

See more information about UNH's pollinator protection efforts at https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/blog/2024/08/path-unhs-new-bee-campus-certification

or about the Ecosystem Task Force at https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/sustainability-institute/task-forces