Campus Life

Arbor Day Foundation Honors Texas A&M With Tree Campus Recognition

March 14, 2017

Aggie Traditions: The Century Tree, a 100-year-old live oak near the Academic Building, as been the site of many Aggie marriage proposals and weddings.
The Century Tree
By Keith Randall, Texas A&M Marketing & Communications

Texas A&M University has been honored with the 2016 Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.

“Students are eager to volunteer in their communities and become better stewards of the environment,” said Matt Harris, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation from its offices in Lincoln, Neb. “Participating in Tree Campus USA sets a fine example for other colleges and universities, while helping to create a healthier planet for us all.”

“This recognition highlights our efforts to make trees an integral part of our campus experience” said Kelly Wellman, sustainability director at Texas A&M.

Tree Campus USA is a national program created in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation to honor colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Texas A&M achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’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 296 colleges across the United States with this recognition.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as a Tree Campus USA. Protecting our campus environment fits into our larger sustainability goals,” said Jane Schneider, associate vice president for facilities and operations at Texas A&M. “We are delighted to have the support of our campus partners – including our colleagues at SSC – in making this a reality.”

The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities invested more than $46.7 million in campus forest management last year. More information about the program is available at https://www.arborday.org/trees. For more about the about the Arbor Day Foundation, go to https://www.arborday.org.

###

Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu or Danny Cohn or dcohn@arborday.org or 02-473-9563

Related Stories

Recent Stories