UNC Maintains Tree Campus USA Designation
August 6, 2020
The University of Northern Colorado was honored with 2019 Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.
In its 12th year, Tree Campus Higher Education program (formerly Tree Campus USA) honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals.
UNC 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 student service-learning project.
Currently, there are 401 campuses across the U.S. with this recognition. UNC is one of six Colorado colleges and universities with the designation.
UNC has achieved Tree Campus USA status annually since 2012. UNC’s campus is also a certified arboretum recognized by the National ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program. In addition to the campus's 3,468 trees, which include four Colorado Tree Coalition state champion trees, the arboretum includes over 17,000 flowers, hundreds of perennial plantings, a xeric garden with neighboring community garden plots, and a Colorado grassland exhibit.
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. More information about the program is available at arborday.org/programs/tree-campus-higher-education.
