Calvin College is honored with 2017 Tree Campus USA® recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management. Calvin is one of four Michigan institutions to receive the distinction. (University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, and Western Michigan University were also included.)
“Students are eager to volunteer in their communities and become better stewards of the environment,” said Matt Harris, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Participating in Tree Campus USA sets a fine example for other colleges and universities, while helping to create a healthier planet for us all.”
Tree Campus USA, an Arbor Day Foundation program, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Calvin College achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’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 student service-learning project. Currently there are 344 campuses across the United States with this recognition. This is Calvin’s sixth consecutive year being named a Tree Campus USA.
"Calvin's Tree Campus USA designation shows the importance we place on not only the care and management of our existing trees, but also on campus involvement in planting new ones,” said Bob Speelman, Calvin’s landscape operations supervisor and a certified arborist. “Campus trees play a key role in making this an attractive, sustainable and enjoyable place to live, work and visit. I am pleased that our role as stewards of the campus urban forest has been recognized once again."
The Arbor Day Foundation is a million member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. The organization has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities invested more than $48 million in campus forest management last year.
