News Archives
PGMS Rossborough Inn Rejuvenation
The Professional Grounds
Management Society, DC Branch (PGMS), and the UMD PGMS Student Chapter donated a
day of service in fall 2011 to rejuvenate the landscape at Rossborough Inn, the
oldest building on campus. Seven professional PGMS members volunteered, as did
six student members, and Andre Nono, staff member from our own UMD Landscape
Services Department. Everybody worked hard, and the donations of leafgro,
fertilizer, and food were very welcome. Best of all, the landscape at
Rossborough was transformed. Many of the plants added to the landscape were
donated or salvaged from construction projects on campus.
Arboretum Volunteers and Community Service
In 2011, UMD students, faculty,
and staff, and local community members gave over 10,000 hours of volunteer time
to the UMD Arboretum and Botanical Garden. The Arboretum strives to create
meaningful activities for all volunteers, including time for education and
reflection. Volunteers gain a deeper understanding of the Arboretum and Botanic
Garden and our campus community through investment of personal time and energy.
Individuals and large and small groups invest their energy and provide a
valuable community service. These photographs are from a community service
activity with over 300 members from campus Greek Life.
arboretum@fm.umd.edu
for more information.
Volunteers at Hagerstown Woods
We are grateful to Becky Kenemuth and the students and staff
of College Park Scholars, Life Sciences for their hard work in Hagerstown Woods
on Monday. About 120 students devoted their Service Day to cleanup and planting
in the woodland garden and picnic area right in front of Hagerstown Hall. As you
can see from the pictures, it is looking fantastic!
County Champion Trees on Campus
The 2011 Tree Champions of Prince George’s County,
Maryland has just been published, and we are excited to announce that 19 of the
116 champions are right here on the University of Maryland, College Park campus.
The Prince George's County Champion Tree list includes the largest known trees
of each species on record in the county. Each tree species is classified
separately so that small trees like dogwoods do not have to compete with larger
trees such as oaks and maples. Thanks to our Campus Tree Inventory, we can now
participate in this wonderful competition. The Prince George’s County champions
will go up against those in other counties to compile the Maryland champion tree
list, and then the Maryland state champions will compete with those in other
states for a place on the national champion tree list. Trees are evaluated on
three factors: height, crown size, and trunk circumference. The formula is:
Total Points = Circumference (inches) + Height (feet) + 25% of the Average Crown
Spread (feet). The tree competition dates back to 1925, when the first Maryland
State Forester, Fred W. Besley, compiled the “Noted Tree List” for Maryland. He
started an intensive search for big trees of all species growing in Maryland,
and sponsored a statewide contest. Besley also devised the measuring procedures
and point system still used today. By 1940 the American Forestry Association
began the “National Big Tree List” to identify the largest trees in the United
States. The Prince George’s County Champion Tree list was begun in 1986 in honor
of Arbor Day by The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
(M-NCPPC). The search for big trees continues to the present time and the list
changes constantly, as trees are living, growing things, and subject to the
ravages of man, machines, insects, disease, nature and time. So, take a look at
the 2011
report.
With a cemetery nearby and
an inconspicuous location near Byrd Stadium, the small one-story building dubbed
the Apiary may not appear to be the control center for this university's
nationally....
Maryland’s Forest Partnership is Growing
The Baltimore Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship
(BWPFS), a federal-state-nonprofit partnership to advance comprehensive and
coordinated strategies for the restoration, conservation and stewardship of the
combined landscape they manage, is expanding on June 23, 2011 to include
additional federal, state and local government partners.
The original partners, including the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources, the Center for Chesapeake Communities, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Patuxent Research Refuge, the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the
U.S. Army Fort George G. Meade, formed the BWPFS through a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) in 2006. Collectively, these agencies own and manage over 40
square miles of land, 64% of which is either forested or wetlands.
On June 23, 2011, at a MOU signature ceremony and tree planting event, hosted
by the City of Greenbelt, the BWPFS will welcome the City of Greenbelt, the
University of Maryland, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the
U.S. Geological Survey as new members, expanding the area of contiguous managed
landscape to nearly 47 square miles. These unique ecological resources are among
the last significant tracts of contiguous forest land in this highly urbanized
region and provide important ecosystem services to Marylanders such as clean air
and water, soil erosion and flood control, biodiversity and recreational and
educational opportunities.
Together, with new partners, the BWPFS will seek to expand tree canopy cover,
conserve and improve wildlife habitat, reduce nutrient and sediment pollution to
the Chesapeake Bay, promote coordinated land management and collaborative
scientific research, pursue green building technologies and climate change
action strategies, and offer environmental education opportunities to the
public. The BWPFS will continue to seek out new collaborative partnerships with
additional agencies, landowners and interested citizens, expanding this effort
throughout the Baltimore-Washington Corridor.
Arbor Day Celebration
The UM Arboretum celebrated Arbor Day on April 6, 2011 with
four events, a ceremonial tree planting of a replacement willow oak on McKeldin
Mall, a presentation about the Campus Tree Inventory at the Arboretum Outreach
Center, an Arbor Day display and Chapel Oak Seedling giveaway on McKeldin Mall
by the Institute of Applied Agriculture, and an informal tour of the new Garden
of Reflection and Remembrance. The tree-planting ceremony featured brief remarks
from Karen Petroff, Assistant Director, Arboretum/Horticultural Services, and
University President Dr. Wallace Loh, who spoke about the significance and
history of Arbor Day and the McKeldin Mall willow oaks. Wielding the first
shovels for the tree planting were Dr. Loh, Dr. Bill Kenworthy from the
Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture, Joe Cook from Landscape
Services, students Amber Williams and Jonathan Lin, and Campus Arborist Josh
Nadler. The annual Arbor Day observance is an integral part of UM’s Tree Campus
USA participation. We were lucky to have a beautiful, sunny day for the events
this year.
Company donates 100 new maple trees to shade Comcast walkway
The campus got a little bit greener this month after an
alumnus' landscape company donated more than $61,000 worth of new trees to the
university. Denison Landscaping & Nursery Inc., of Fort Washington, donated and
installed 100 new Autumn Blaze Maple trees to the grounds around Comcast Center
in early November. Company owner John Denison coordinated with university
officials to determine the best place for the trees, according to Facilities
Management director Harry Teabout, and they are now part of the university's
official Arboretum and Botanical Garden. "We received the gift with smiles,"
Teabout said. Campus arborist Josh Nadler said the trees will do more than add
aesthetic appeal; they will also provide a shaded walkway for students walking
near Comcast Center....more
Weeping for a willow oak
Despite the special fertilizer treatments, routine
prunings and other precautionary measures taken to keep the campus’s giant
willow oaks healthy, one of the trees lining McKeldin Mall was no match for a
mid-summer thunderstorm.
The giant willow oaks, which are the most cherished trees on the campus
according to the university’s arborists, live in the lap of luxury as far as
trees are concerned. But after losing a third of its branches to 50-mph winds,
tree No. 868, on the Holzapfel Hall side of the mall, will be cut down tomorrow
after it was determined to be a public safety risk.....more
New Chapel Garden, Labyrinth to Plant Seeds for Reflection
Where do you go on campus to restore your soul?
Years ago, a student in Marsha Guenzler-Stevens’ University 100 course posed
that question in his class journal. From then on, the director of activities and
associate director of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union-Center for Campus Life
sought to answer it, and last month she helped break ground on just such a
place: the
Garden of Reflection and Remembrance.
By October, the south side of Memorial Chapel will be
home to a landscaped labyrinth, pathways and water elements, designed to
encourage quiet thought, an oasis amid the bustling campus.
Read more...
Facilities Master Plan Update
The ten year update for the 2001 Facilities Master Plan is
underway with twin foci of landscape master planning and multi-modal
transportation systems planning. The assembled team incorporates expertise and
constituents from throughout the campus community as well as selected
consultants to guide the effort. The twelve month process will include in-depth
analysis of the campus landscape including land use, environmental
sustainability and stewardship, utility infrastructure including storm water
management and further integration of campus space as an Arboretum and Botanical
Garden while preserving the unique character and history of the campus and
serving the campus community. A full schedule of public meetings and
opportunities for campus input will occur and updates will be shared here and
through other campus venues.
Tree Campus USA
The University of Maryland, College Park was recognized
as one of 29 charter Tree Campus USA institutions across the country by the
Arbor Day Foundation in 2008. Recertified in 2009, we remain the only Tree
Campus USA in the state of Maryland. The designation is awarded in recognition
of campuses that act as good stewards of their tree resources and benchmarks for
tree care, planning and student participation must be met each year, including
observance of Arbor Day. More information on this program is available through
the Arbor Day Foundation Website,
www.arbordayfoundation.org/programs/
treecampususa/index.cfm.
News - Arbor Day 2010
Arbor Day was celebrated on April 7, 2010 under beautiful
skies on McKeldin Mall. Dr. C.D. Mote, Jr, President of the University of
Maryland, College Park, Frank Brewer, Associate Vice President, Facilities
Management, Kenneth Ingram, Institute of Agriculture instructor, College of
Agriculture and Natural Resources and students Clark Delong, Landscape
Management and Avi Saha, Plant Sciences, helped plant a willow oak, Quercus
phellos, to complete the willow oak allee on McKeldin Mall. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, community members also had the opportunity to
participate. Originally planted in 1938 under the administration of President
Henry Clifton “Curley” Byrd, the Maryland native willow oaks which line the
south and north boundaries of McKeldin Mall create a cherished community space
well known as a campus landscape icon.