Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 61.15
Liaison Ashley Woolman
Submission Date April 8, 2022

STARS v2.2

Western Colorado University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Ashley Woolman
Sustainability Coordinator
Facilities Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

1st campaign 

Name of the campaign:
Race to Zero Waste

A brief description of the campaign:
This is a campus-wide recycling challenge to educate and engage students and staff on proper recycling, while reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill. The campaign targeted students living in residence halls by engaging with students at the annual Wellness Fest, giving away prizes for signing the Mountaineer Recycling Pledge, and weekly trivia questions via social media.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Western ranks in the top 1/3 with other schools & universities. A significant amount of waste was diverted from the landfill.

if reporting an additional campaign, provide:

2nd campaign

Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Public Lands Day

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
The annual public lands day brings students, faculty, community members and agency partners together. Multiple projects throughout the Gunnison area were worked on, including: removing invasive plants with the National Park Service, removing trash from the Currecanti National Recreation Area, decommission old trails in the Signal peak area, and collecting seeds from native sagebrush with the Bureau of Land Management. Other supporters of this event included the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Gunnison Conservation District, the Center for Public Lands, the City of Gunnison, and Gunnison County. Each participant received a National Public Lands Day t-shirt.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Countless invasive plants including cheatgrass were removed, many large trash bags were filled with litter, old trails were decommissioned in a popular recreation area, and enough seeds were collected from native sagebrush to be grown by the Colorado State Forest Service to be replanted to restore degraded habitat in the area.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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