LiveGreen: Grounds department works to save trees

Last year, UNMC received its inaugural Tree Campus USA status from the Arbor Day Foundation.

LIVEGREEN

by Melanie Stewart

To maintain that status, an application must be submitted and accepted each year. Each application requires a service learning project, in addition to a tree plan, goals, expenditures related to tree care, and other items.

Last year’s project focused on education and appreciation of trees as UNMC hosted students from the Montessori Parents Co-op for Children.

They learned about dichotomous keys and had a great time identifying trees on campus.

This year’s project also was fun, but in a manual labor kind of way.

Future construction will likely impact a green space on the east end of campus. Even if some space within that will remain green, trees and roots are often damaged during the construction process. When LiveGreen found out about this, the committee asked the grounds department what we could do.

Tom Payne, grounds supervisor and certified arborist, responded to our request. With the help of his crew and a tree spade, eight trees were re-located on campus.

• One maple replaced a fallen tree in front of the administration building.
• One maple was planted to prepare for the future loss of a tree at the alumni house.
• Two crabapples were added to the green space behind the Alumni House.
• Four crabapples were planted in a lot on Leavenworth Street that previously didn’t have any trees.

While the tree spade did all the heavy lifting (literally), LiveGreen volunteers helped to pre-water holes, move supplies, fill in dirt and water the transplanted trees. It was a great fall day and a good time of year to move the trees.

A special thanks to all those who helped, the Tree Campus USA committee, and especially Payne and the staff from grounds and labor who made this happen.