University of Findlay Reaches Decade Milestone as a Tree Campus

The University of Findlay has been named as a Tree Campus Higher Education by the Arbor Day Foundation, marking 10 straight years the University has been honored with this nationally recognized award.

The awards were presented to Tree Campus communities by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Division of Forestry at the Northwest Ohio awards ceremony. This event was hosted by the City of Maumee and the Maumee Environmental & Tree Advisory Commission.

The University has earned the title of Tree Campus Higher Education for its ongoing efforts to maintain and improve quality of life through a comprehensive tree management program. The program is guided by the Campus Tree Care Committee and the University’s groundskeeping department. Professor of biology, Ben Dolan, who started the Tree Care Committee, and has worked for over a decade to continue and expand urban forestry efforts on Findlay’s campus. He was quick to mention the hard work and ever-evolving vision of the committee when reflecting upon a decade of tree planting and stewardship.

“It’s exciting because so many people have contributed to tree care on campus over the last 10 years,” Dolan said. “It’s pretty cool to walk around and see trees that we planted years ago now thriving. We’ve met many of the goals we set for ourselves, and now we have the opportunity to think about where we want to go next. That’s a really special place to be.”

The Ohio DNR, Division of Forestry’s Urban Forestry Assistance Program acts as a guiding hand in helping communities be recognized as a Tree City USA or Tree Campus by recommending them to the Arbor Day Foundation for this standing. To achieve the title and the honor as a Tree Campus, a college or university must meet five standards, which are as follows:

• An active tree advisory board
• A campus tree management plan
• A comprehensive urban forestry program supported by a minimum of
three dollars per student
• An annual campus Arbor Day observance
• A student in-service project related to trees or urban forestry

In April, during the University’s celebration of Arbor Day, two bald cypress trees were planted at the University’s College Park, marking yet another year of dedication to adding and maintaining trees across Findlay’s campus.

Ohio boasts the greatest number of Tree Cities and Tree Campus Higher Educations in the country and marks Ohio’s 48th consecutive year as the top Tree City USA state, according to the Ohio Division of Forestry. A total of 43 Northwest Ohio’s communities are Tree Cities and four universities are honored as Tree Campuses.