To earn Tree Campus recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, colleges and universities must uphold five core standards, including maintaining an advisory committee, setting a campus tree care plan, verifying annual investment in the tree care plan, celebrating Arbor Day, and creating a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.
Trees on campus can lower the energy cost of campus facilities by providing shade cover, reducing extreme heat, improving air quality, and boosting physical health benefits for students and staff. In addition, trees improve students' mental and cognitive health, provide an appealing aesthetic for campuses, and create shaded areas for gathering and studying.
“We are honored to receive this recognition,” said Morgan King, Climate Action Analyst at Cal Poly Humboldt. “Our campus hosts a diversity of native trees as well as trees of botanical interest from around the world. It is exciting to see how Facilities staff who manage campus grounds collaborate with the Office of Sustainability and departments like Botany and Forestry to enhance the campus tree canopy and to foster the campus as a living laboratory for learning about their many benefits.”
The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Its network of more than a million supporters and partners has helped the organization plant more than 500 million trees in forests and communities across more than 60 countries since 1972. The Tree Campus program recognizes schools, universities, and healthcare facilities that utilize trees to improve their communities.
“Trees have the power to inspire learning and improve well-being,” said Michelle Saulnier, Vice President of Programs at the Arbor Day Foundation. “By growing campus green spaces, forward-thinking higher education leaders like Cal Poly Humboldt are cultivating vibrant learning communities that also benefit the greater environment.”
The Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus program is operated in partnership with the National Association of State Foresters and with support from professional partner Bartlett Tree Experts. To learn more about the program or how to apply, visit arborday.org.
In celebration of Arbor Day, Cal Poly Humboldt’s Grounds Department is hosting a Campus Tree Walking Tour, Thursday, April 24, 1-2 p.m. Participants can meet at the University Quad (near the Depot). Join the tour to learn about the unique diversity and importance of trees on campus.
About the Arbor Day Foundation
The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit inspiring people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. They foster a growing community of more than 1 million leaders, innovators, planters, and supporters united by their bold belief that a more hopeful future can be shaped through the power of trees. For more than 50 years, they’ve answered critical needs with action, planting more than half a billion trees alongside their partners. And this is only the beginning.