University of Virginia
OP-9: Landscape Management

The total area of managed Grounds excludes buildings and impervious surfaces as well as areas of forest on the campus that are not maintained with a landscape program.

All pest management, with the exception of Athletics and Intramural Recreation fields, is directed by UVA’s Plant Healthcare Specialist. Grounds are maintained in accordance with IPM strategies that adhere to the four-tiered approach. The Plant Healthcare specialist is responsible for setting action thresholds and will recommend plant replacement in situations where plant material is likely to attract pests. When controls are used, biological controls, such as the use of nematodes, are prioritized.

UVA prioritizes use of native, adapted, low-maintenance, and non-invasive plant species in landscape design and replacement.

The University developed stormwater management master plans for the two watersheds (Meadow Creek and Moores Creek) that drain UVA property. The plans outline strategies for mitigating the effects of stormwater runoff from existing and new development. In addition, the University has developed an Action Plan for demonstrating compliance with the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. The Chesapeake Bay TMDL is a 15 year program working with the City and County in our community.

Moreover, cisterns for capturing rainwater for irrigation purposes are installed at the Astronomy Building (550 gal), New Cabell Hall (4,200 gal), Garrett Hall (5,000 gal), Amphitheater (6,600 gal), O-Hill Dining (10,000 gal), Lannigan Track (187,025 gallons) and LaCross Botanical Garden and Arboretum (10,000). The largest two cisterns are directly connected to irrigation systems serving adjacent lawn and planted areas. The others are available for hand watering student gardens or for our landscaping crews to pump from to fill portable water tanks.

Furthermore, the institution has installed a variety of systems to filter rainwater before it leaves the property. UVA has installed 16 oil-water separators, 1 oil-sand interceptor, 1 oil-grit separator, 3 sand interceptors, 1 StormScreen, 9 Filterras, 2 locations proprietary filter cartridges, 2 VortSentry. In addition other BMPs, such as raingardens and biofilters, naturally filter stormwater in addition to reducing the quantity of runoff. The institution also has bioretention filters or rain gardens installed at 11 sites across campus, with several more funded for installation as part of redevelopment and retrofit projects. Several of the existing sites have multiple bioretention cells.

Additionally, the institution has two retention ponds - one at the Dell and one serving the Health Systems area. The Dell pond treats the headwaters of Meadow Creek with a drainage area of 182 acres (approx 14% impervious) and has a forebay. The Health Systems Pond has a drainage area of 34 acres. We also have 7 extended detention basins and 8 detention basins. Due to space constraints, we also have 17 locations of underground detention for peak runoff control. UVA also employs constructed wetlands, infiltration, street sweeping, stream daylighting and stream restoration.

The institute also restores and maintains the integrity of the natural hydrology of the campus through the several cisterns that collect water for use at both times of drought and for landscaping establishment and gardening purposes. Since those cisterns are not metered, the rainwater collected and subsequently reused is not included in the totals above.

In 2013, the University installed its first condensate recovery system. This system captures air handler condensate (the liquid product of dehumidification) and sends it to our chiller plants for use in the cooling towers. Lastly, scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2024, a cistern capturing rainwater from our newly constructed Contemplative Commons building that is filtered and piped to our Central Grounds Chiller Plant to also support the cooling needs of the University.

The University Landscape Department operates its own composting facilities for weeds and other landscape trimmings. Grass trimmings are not collected and left in place. We have started a partnership with the Landscape Architecture Department and a University student club, UVA Sawmilling, to mill the trees cut down from our Grounds. These logs are milled into slabs and dimensional lumber for use by our architecture and art students, our Facilities Management cabinet shop and made available to the community through sales from our Reuse store. Our Urban Wood program includes a solar kiln to properly dry the raw material, operated by students. Woody material not suitable for use as part of this program is sent through a chipper and reused on Grounds as mulch.
Moreover, the overwhelming majority of all the debris generated by the University's grounds maintenance tasks remains on Grounds at our stockpile location.

UVA prioritizes canopy cover within Grounds at-large and in the design of the landscaped areas to reduce heat islands and heat gain. Between the forested area and the landscaped areas of Grounds, the overall tree canopy is 51%.

We have a program to “leave the leaves” in partnership with the University student group “Bee Grounds”. This is part of our commitment to support pollinator habitat and our affiliation with Bee Campus USA. We are also actively increasing the number of acres of native meadows on Grounds as part of that commitment.

The University has reduced the use of rock salt first through use of a 1 part rock salt, 2 parts sand blend and more recently through significantly increased use of magnesium chloride for snow and ice removal. No urea products are used. The use of mechanical spreaders as a replacement for hand-spreading has significantly reduced the amount of material applied.

Rick Hopkins also manages and procures all of the products used for snow and ice control on all Academic, Housing, Medical Center and P&T locations. The University uses bulk sodium chloride on the roads, parking lots and interconnecting sidewalks. The institution also uses magnesium chloride on our steps, building entrances as well as sidewalks and it uses Sodium Acetate on the top decks of the parking garages. The acetate based deicers are non-corrosive and not likely to harm the steel rebar in the concrete of the decks but they are very expensive so we use them only where absolutely necessary. There are occasions when the national supply of magnesium has been used before the winter season has ended. When this happens, UVA typically purchases Calcium Chloride to see the University through to the end of the year.