Tree Campus USA Tour: Northern Kentucky University

This fall, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota are visiting college and university campuses across the United States to kick off Tree Campus USA, a new program designed to engage students and their host communities to establish and sustain healthy community forests. Today, Arbor Day program director Michelle Scribner reports on the first kickoff event last week, at Northern Kentucky University.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota officially launched the new Tree Campus USA program on October 16 with a tree planting event at Northern Kentucky University!

The Northern Kentucky University Norse were terrific hosts and very excited to be recognized as one of the first Tree Campus USA colleges in the nation.  The University met all five standards of the Tree Campus USA program and Dr. James Votruba, University President, accepted the Tree Campus USA plaque and flag on behalf of the college.

What better way to kick off a program that encourages best tree management practices and engages students in the care of their campus trees than by adding some more trees to this growing campus in Highland Heights, Kentucky – just Southeast of Cincinnati.  Over 40 tulip poplars and yoshino cherry trees were planted near the entrance of the college and just adjacent to the new Welcome Center.  These trees will be a beautiful addition to welcome students, faculty, and visitors as they enter the NKU campus.

The day before the event, we were given a tour of the campus.  They have just started an arboretum by Lake Norse and are making great efforts to add “green” to the campus which has historically been very concrete.  The efforts are definitely paying off as we witnessed numerous students gravitate towards the more landscaped areas.  Who wouldn’t want to catch up with studies or relax between classes in an area where there are more trees!

The tree planting event at Northern Kentucky University was the first of nine that will be held throughout the country  to celebrate the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota’s Tree Campus USA initiative.  To learn more about this new program that honors colleges and the leaders of their surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and promoting environmental stewardship, visit arborday.org/treecampususa.

- Michelle Scribner, Program Director, Arbor Day Foundation