The Arbor Day Foundation has honored Hiram College for its commitment to effective urban forest management with the Tree Campus Higher Education® recognition.
The Tree Campus Higher Education program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management, as well as engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Hiram achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus Higher Education’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and a student service-learning project. Currently there are 403 campuses across the United States with this recognition.
“The Arbor Day Foundation’s designation of Hiram as part of its Tree Campus Higher Education® is the most recent example of the College’s long tree tradition,” said Denny Taylor, Ph.D., distinguished professor of international grants and professor emeritus of biology. “Among many others, this award is another example of the collaboration of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni.”
The College has recently taken additional steps to preserve the tree canopy on campus, including:
Hosting the Ohio Division of Forestry’s Tree Commission Academy in 2019, with participation by faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
An updated tree inventory by Lauren Lanphear ’79.
A new tree canopy project funded by alumni and friend contributions through the Vision 20/20 campaign.
Participation in the fifth i-Tree Academy of the U.S. Forest Service and Davey Tree.
The incorporation of best practices in arboriculture by the College’s physical plant.
The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus Higher Education colleges and universities invested more than $51 million in campus forest management last year. This work directly supports the Arbor Day Foundation’s Time for Trees initiative — an unprecedented effort to plant 100 million trees in forests and communities and inspire 5 million tree planters by 2022. Last year, Tree Campus Higher Education schools collectively planted 39,178 trees and engaged 81,535 tree planters.
More information about the program is available at treecampushighered.org.
