Virginia Commonwealth University
OP-9: Landscape Management

Institution’s grounds include areas that are managed:

• Organically, without the use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides (i.e., only ecologically preferable materials may be used);

OR

• In accordance with an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program.

An area of grounds may be managed organically or in accordance with an IPM program that uses selected chemicals, but not both.

This credit applies to all institutions with managed grounds comprising one or more percent of the total area of the campus.

An institution earns the maximum of 2 points available for this credit when 100 percent of campus grounds are managed without the use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. Incremental points are available based on the percentage of grounds managed organically or in accordance with an IPM program. Scoring for this credit is based on the total area of managed grounds, i.e., the sum of areas managed under conventional, IPM, and organic programs.

Points for this credit are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Timeframe

Report on current programs and practices at the time of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards

For total campus area, report the total amount of land within the institutional boundary. In calculating the area of managed grounds, an institution may exclude the footprint of buildings and impervious surfaces, experimental agricultural land, and land that is not regularly managed or maintained, as long as such areas are excluded consistently.

To simplify reporting, an institution may elect to account for the footprint of a building or facility and associated impervious surfaces such as sidewalks and parking areas based on how the entire site is managed as long as the same methodology is used consistently for all managed areas. For example, if the Housing Department uses integrated pest management to maintain four acres that include residence halls and paved surfaces as well as associated grounds, all four acres may be counted toward the “area managed in accordance with an IPM program” as long as all managed areas are counted the same way.