Arbor Day Foundation Names Florida Tech an Arbor Day Tree Campus USA

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Florida Institute of Technology as a Tree Campus USA, a designation currently earned by only eight other Florida universities. The 2014 designation recognizes the university’s dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship.

Tree Campus USA is a national program of the Arbor Day Foundation that honors colleges and universities for promoting healthy management of their campus forests and for engaging the community in environmental stewardship.

The Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA program recognizes excellence in campus tree management as well as student and community involvement. The foundation raises environmental awareness from the bottom up and engages the campus community.

“It’s more than just planting trees and palms,” said Holly Chichester, Florida Tech’s horticulturist and manager of grounds. “Being a Tree Campus USA keeps us accountable for the university’s urban forest and allows us to illustrate how we will be using and caring for the trees on campus in the future.”

To earn the Tree Campus USA status, Florida Tech met Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures toward trees, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning projects.

For more information, visit www.arborday.org/programs/treecampususa/