For the fifth time, the Arbor Day Foundation included Fordham in its list of colleges and universities recognized for their commitment to trees through Tree Campus Higher Education, a national program launched in 2008 by the foundation.

“Trees not only play a vital role in the environment but also in our daily lives,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation.

“Having trees on college and university campuses is a great way to show a commitment to students and faculty’s overall wellbeing.”

The program, which began as Tree Campus USA, honors schools that meet five core standards: establishment of a tree advisory committee, creation of a campus tree-care plan, annual funding for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and sponsorship of student service-learning projects. Fordham first began participating in the program in  2015.

The University is home to hundreds of trees, including more than 500 on the Rose Hill campus. Rose Hill boasts one of the oldest American elm trees in New York City, estimated to be 270 years old. It has towered over Cunniffe House since Fordham’s founding.

Marco Valera, vice president for administration, said the conservation efforts were an important part of Fordham’s sustainability efforts. In addition to maintaining the trees on the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center, and Westchester campuses, the University utilizes a former orchard at the Louis Calder Center in Armonk to nurture several dozen American Elms, Red Maples, Northern Red Oaks, and Japanese Maples for planting in new locations.

“We know that 2020 has brought unprecedented challenges—but you have shown that your commitment to trees is unwavering,” Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation, wrote in a recent letter to the University. “Now more than ever, thank you for contributing to a healthier planet for all of us.” 

Fordham is among approximately 400 colleges and universities recognized for their commitment to trees in 2019 by Tree Campus Higher Education, a national program launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation. Formerly known as Tree Campus USA, the program honors schools that meet five core standards: establishment of a tree advisory committee, creation of a campus tree-care plan, annual funding for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and sponsorship of student service learning projects. Fordham has participated in the program since 2015. 

The University is home to hundreds of trees, including one of the oldest American elm trees in New York City. For more than 270 years, the tree has towered over Cunniffe House at the Rose Hill campus. It lost a large limb after Tropical Storm Isaias swept across the East Coast, but the tree should heal normally, said Marco Valera, vice president for administration. The damaged limb was properly cut back, and the tree will be monitored more frequently. 

Since 2015, Fordham has participated in Tree Campus USA, a national program that honors colleges and universities for promoting tree conservation across their campuses. Participating institutions complete five tasks: creating a tree advisory committee, developing a campus tree-care plan, annually dedicating funds toward a campus tree program, celebrating Arbor Day, and sponsoring related student service-learning projects.

A week ago, the University celebrated Arbor Day with some special guests—nearly 120 second graders from P.S. 205. On April 30, the second graders, Fordham students, and University staff gathered at the Rose Hill campus for a giveaway, a poetry reading, and a series of speakers. Together, they planted a holly tree in a grassy patch bordered by Keating Hall, Spellman Hall, and John Mulcahy Hall.

The young tree joins the Arbor Day Foundation’s initiative of planting 100 million trees and engaging five million tree planters by 2022.

“This year, Tree Campus USA schools have collectively planted 32,204 trees and engaged 31,682 students—helping us work toward these critical goals and the large-scale impact we seek,” wrote Dan Lambe, the president of the Arbor Day Foundation, in a letter to Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “And your continued dedication to trees will help to create lasting change for future generations.”

A Tree City/Campus/Line Recognition Ceremony will take place on March 29 in Albany, New York.

The University earned the distinction by meeting five core standards for a sustainable campus: Establishment of a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and the sponsorship of student service-learning projects.

“If ever there was a time for trees, now is that time. Communities worldwide are facing issues with air quality, water resources, personal health and well-being, and energy use,” said Lauren Weyers, program coordinator for the Arbor Day Foundation.

“As a result of your commitment to effective urban forest management, Fordham is helping to provide a solution to these global challenges.”

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Fordham Honored for Tree Care

]]> 86756 https://now.fordham.edu/university-news/fordham-honored-for-tree-care/ Tue, 02 May 2017 15:15:27 +0000 http://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=67350 [doptg id=”83″]Fordham’s Rose Hill campus got a little greener on April 28.

To celebrate Arbor Day, the Tree Care Industry Association presented the University with an award for its stewardship and preservation of the unique collection of American elms on campus.

Marc Valera, vice president for facilities, accepted the award on behalf of the University from Sachin Mohan, vice president of corporate relations and marketing at the Tree Care Industry Association. Joining them were Steve Farelly, owner and founder of Emerald Tree & Shrub Care Company, and Anthony Bulfamante, president of A. Bulfmante Landscaping.

A pin oak tree that was donated to the University by A. Bulfmante Landscaping was also planted at the Martyr’s Lawn triangular bed.

—Photos by Jill LeVine

The meeting will bring together representatives from a variety of city-based institutions at the Lincoln Center campus for a discussion of best practices.

The University joined the carbon challenge in 2007, and has taken numerous steps to limit its greenhouse gas output, even as it has expanded its physical footprint with spaces such as the new Law School building and four new residence halls.

For its efforts, Fordham was featured in NYC Carbon Challenge Handbook for Universities and Hospitals, a reference manual that the city issued in December that aggregates participants’ best practices to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions in their buildings.

Marco Valera, vice president for Facilities Management, said that one of the initiatives the University is still on target to meet is replacing every single light bulb with an LED by early 2017. His department is also looking at options to add 1.2 megawatts of solar power (about 20 percent of the University’s total electric base load) to its utility purchasing portfolio.

The University has also prioritized care for flora. On February 17, the Arbor Day foundation honored Fordham with a 2015 Tree Campus USA recognition for its commitment to effective urban forest management.

The university earned the designation because it satisfied five core standards for effective campus forest management: a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and a student service-learning project.

The university celebrated its entry into the Tree Campus USA program in April 2015 with the planting of a 15-foot high, 800-pound pin oak tree that had been transplanted from the Louis Calder Center in Armonk.

Valera said the two initiatives compliment each other and exemplify the Jesuit ideal of acting as stewards of the earth.

“Its good to see that your work is recognized, and it’s work that we will be doing in perpetuity as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

The 15-foot high, 800-pound tree was one of several dozen American Elms, Red Maples, Northern Red Oaks and Japanese Maples being grown in a former orchard at the Louis Calder Center in Armonk. Many perished as a result of the high winds and heavy rains of Hurricane Sandy. But several pin oaks survived, and this one was transported to the Bronx campus to take up a new home.

Fordham’s Facilities Management and the United Student Government’s (USG) Sustainability Committee orchestrated the planting. It marks the University’s inaugural participation in Tree Campus USA.

Launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation, Tree Campus USA is designed to help colleges and universities promote tree conservation and act as a catalyst for fostering student engagement.

Gerardo Galliano, campus operations manager in Facilities Management, said he hopes more events such as this one, in which ceremonial shovels of dirt were heaped on the root ball after a front loader lowered the tree into a hole, encourage the University community to recognize the importance of tree conservation.

“It also allows students and administrators to participate in something in what would normally just be a facilities function,” he said.

Marco Valera, vice president for Facilities Management, said the planting was part of the University’s ongoing tree conservation efforts. The 90-acre Rose Hill campus is home to about 500 trees, including a 270-year old American Elm that the University is lobbying to have listed on the National Register of Big Trees. He noted that this is a great way to celebrate Earth Day, which falls on Wednesday, April 22.

The University also established an official tree advisory committee last month, submitted a comprehensive campus tree conservation and action plan, and dedicated annual expenditures specifically geared towards tree/forest conservation efforts on campus. Friday’s planting was part of an Arbor Day tree planting observance that will take place annually.

Nick Rapillo and Katherine Sitler-Elbel, freshmen at Fordham College at Rose Hill, joined two other students at the planting.

Rapillo, a Trumbull, Connecticut native whose interest in the environment was sparked by membership in the Boy Scouts, has picked environmental studies for his major. He also hopes to double major in urban studies.

“I’m hoping to combine the environmentalist ideas in urban areas, so this this kind of event fits that,” he said

Sitler-Elbel, an environmental science major, moved to New York from Dallas because she said she wanted to live in a place that is “more progressive” in environmental issues.

She led a student service-learning project that surveyed the neighborhood adjacent to the Rose Hill campus to identify empty plots along sidewalks and roadways where a tree once stood. Students identified 20 spots within a mile-long loop where trees could be planted; they plan to submit the information to the city’s Million TreesNYC program.

“People underestimate trees’ importance,” she said, noting the benefits of shade and oxygen they provide. “People see the, and they think they look nice, but they don’t realize how much they give back.”