University of Illinois Facilities and Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2017

Arbor Day Celebration to Recognize 2016 Tree Campus USA^® Distinction

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus can grab a shovel and help plant one of the five new trees Friday, April 28, on National Arbor Day.

The university’s Arbor Day Celebration Ceremony will highlight many positive effects trees make in our lives, including providing species habitat, removing and storing carbon while releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, reducing stress levels, and promoting an active lifestyle.

3^rd Annual Arbor Day Celebration Ceremony

Date: Friday, April 28, 2017
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Location: McFarland Carillon, east of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall (South Quad)
Speakers: Associate Chancellor Mike DeLorenzo, Interim Executive Director of Facilities & Services (F&S) Helen Coleman and Campus Landscape Architect Brent Lewis
Activities: TREE-via games and prizes as well as the reading of an official Arbor Day proclamation

Sponsors: The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment and F&S

The Arbor Day Foundation honored the Urbana campus in 2016 with a second consecutive Tree Campus USA^® recognition for its commitment to effective urban forest management. The following initiatives are a part of the university’s current tree care efforts:

• Removing more than 120 declining Ash trees on campus property the last two years due to the presence of Emerald Ash Borer.
• Growing the Woody Perennial Polyculture Research Site for the study of ecological systems designed to promote plants more practical for human use.
• Updating the campus tree inventory and establishing procedures for the regular upkeep of that catalog.
• Clearing invasive species from the South Arboretum Woods and making an interactive app featuring educational information about the trees of the Arboretum as part of a service learning project.

Tree Campus USA is a national program created by the Arbor Day Foundation to acknowledge colleges and universities for successful campus forest management initiatives and engaging staff and students in conservation goals.

The university established the Campus Tree Advisory Committee in 2015 to help earn the Tree Campus USA designation and to act as an advisory body to F&S whose Grounds department is responsible for the maintenance of more than 20,000 trees on campus.

The 2016 Illinois Tree Campus plan is available at: http://go.fs.illinois.edu/tree.

Facilities & Services (F&S), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provides all physical plant, operational, and essential services for sustaining an environment that fosters research, teaching, and public engagement activities. F&S supports the university’s education, research, and outreach missions by improving the physical condition of the facilities and grounds through construction and building maintenance activities, providing utilities production and distribution, implementing energy conservation initiatives, and increasing customer satisfaction by delivering quality services in a responsive, reliable, and customer-focused manner. www.fs.illinois.edu

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) has a three-fold mission: funding and shepherding interdisciplinary research projects that have an immediate and lasting impact in solving global grand challenges related to sustainability, energy, and the environment; leading efforts to make the U of I campus a leading model of sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental friendliness; and educating and preparing students to be leaders in these fields when they leave campus.
sustainability.illinois.edu

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. More information is available at www.arborday.org.