Campus Trees

UNC campus can be considered an arboretum as the campus holds some very unique trees and over the years some of our trees have boasted  State Champion status.

As of 2009 there are over 2000 trees on the UNC campus.  For details of the history of our campus trees you can view the UNC Landscape Journal.  This journal documents important footnotes on tree plantings/removals, memorial trees & gardens, Arbor Day/Earth day tree plantings as well as our notable  “Heritage Trees”.

For additional information about our campus trees the following Greeley Tribune articles are avaliable:

Pruning and Removals

UNC contracts tree maintenance services for all major pruning and removals.

Pruning Priorities are based on High Risk.  Those trees that pose the greatest risk to human life and property damage.  Please review  the link Hazardous Tree Evaluation. For further information regarding tree evaluation visit www.treesaregood.com.

Currently, UNC  is completing a 5-year high risk tree assessment. This has comprised mostly the campus perimeter street trees.  This evaluation included 119 removals and complete pruning of over 700 trees.  The older Central Campus, and its respective largest and oldest trees were targeted first, as the older trees pose the greatest risk.  The next 5-year (2008-2013) evaluation will comprise the trees on the West Campus and the University Center.  After this 5-year period, Tree assessments will rotate back to the Central Campus.The overall impact of hazardous tree evaluation program is to make our campus safer, promote tree health and minimize tree failures due to high winds and other severe weather impacts.

Tree removals are submitted for approval through the Associate Vice President of Facilities Management and tree removals within the City of Greeley  Right-of –Way, are subject to approval by the City of Greeley, Division of  Forestry, www.greeleygov.com/forestry.

Pesticide Applications / Ips Engraver Beetle

UNC continues the constant battle against Ips Engraver Beetle that attacks the older population of our Heritage Blue Spruce trees.  Some of  these giants are nearly 100 years old.  A contractor applies an insecticide (Astro)  during the Spring Break Period.   Faculty and staff are notified via email of the proposed application schedule. . For more information on the Ips, and other tree care information, we suggest contacting the Greeley Forestry Division and clicking on their Links.

Natural Disaster Planning

Supplemental to the University’s Emergency Response Plan, a Preparedness Checklist is included to address catastrophic tree losses on the university campus and the adjacent community.  It is only a checklist to ensure that step our taken to mitigate such losses.
Please click on Natural Disaster to review checklist.

Landscape/Tree Protection

UNC enforces Tree protection measures prior to and during construction. See Policy: tree protection.