Date: 1/28/09
Contact: Marc Lebovitz
The Arbor Day Foundation has honored Illinois State University as a Tree Campus USA University for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship. Illinois State is the first college or university from Illinois to be named a Tree Campus USA University.
“The Tree Campus USA program will have a lasting impact at Illinois State and throughout the country because it will engage students and local citizens to plant trees and create healthier communities for people to enjoy for generations to come,” said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Illinois State will benefit from better tree-care practices on campus, and it will help connect the university with tree-care professionals in their community to improve the tree canopy in Normal.”
Tree Campus USA, a new national program launched by the Arbor Day Foundation, honors college and universities and the leaders of the campus and surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is supported by a $750,000 grant from Toyota.
Illinois State met the required five core standards of tree care and community engagement in order to receive Tree Campus USA status. Those standards are establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.
The Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization, launched Tree Campus USA in the fall of 2008 by planting trees at nine college campuses throughout the United States.
