Boise State Tree Campus Service-Learning Project
Environmental Studies 300
Overview of Project
This fall, Boise State University students and faculty are working towards the goal of being certified as an official Tree Campus Higher Education school. This certification is instituted by the Arbor Day Foundation with the purpose of ensuring healthy trees and community involvement in cities and on campuses across the country. In order to ensure the full participation of campus communities, there are several standards that must be met before certification is granted.
Campus Tree Advisory Board
Various students and faculty will come together to form an advisory committee in order to review tree management, assist with tree projects and maintenance, and develop educational and community service opportunities. This team is also responsible for organizing an Arbor Day celebration for students, staff, and other community members to participate in. This advisory board should contain a diverse mix of stakeholders, including students, faculty, maintenance staff, and more. Involvement from city community members is also encouraged.
Campus Tree Management Plan
A management plan for tree distribution, maintenance, and removal is necessary for participation in this program. This plan should include future goals for the trees on campus, with emphasis on tree health, diversity, and overall canopy coverage. By setting standards and protocols for maintenance practices including pruning, planting, and removal, we can work toward maintaining a landscape that is beneficial to both wildlife and the campus community. This plan should also incorporate ways to increase community awareness and education on the importance of trees in an urban environment.
Arbor Day Celebration
In order to raise awareness about participation in this program, universities are responsible for organizing a celebration for Arbor Day in late April. This community event can aid in educating the campus and city-wide community on the importance of tree health, diversity, and care. Possible ways to celebrate the campus tree landscape include tree planting events, educational booths, species appreciation initiatives, and more. The main goal is to educate the community and inspire involvement.
Service Learning Project
The final standard that campuses must meet in order to receive certification is the incorporation of service-learning. This entails that a class is mixed with hands-on, experiential learning that aids the community. For Boise State, this means incorporating the previous standards into a class setting. Environmental Studies 300: Management and Analysis was turned into a service-learning course focused on tree management and education during the fall semester. Students enrolled in this course participated in a complete tree inventory of the campus trees. The process involved identifying the species, health status, and maintenance needs of all trees across campus. The class focused on creating a discourse around the importance of trees in urban settings and worked to lead the campus toward a more diverse landscape. Students have been responsible for updating the tree campus plan, creating a story map to showcase the project, creating maps with the data collected throughout the semester, creating posters to encapsulate the project, and engaging the community.
Goals:
- Increase community awareness on the importance of trees and the benefits they provide to the urban environment.
- Raise awareness of community engagement and education opportunities.
- Improve tree maintenance protocols on campus.
- Become a certified Tree Campus Higher Education.
Findings and Synthesis
Among other tasks, the Tree Campus Higher Education Certification requires that all the trees on campus be documented by their species, size measurements, and care needs. In taking this information, it was found that significant portions of the final data had size inaccuracies which didn’t allow for estimates to be made about oxygen production, and carbon dioxide absorption, as well as some other statistics which would have otherwise been generated by the software used for tree data collection. However, the following conclusions were made:
- 24% of documented trees are native to Idaho
- 69% of documented trees are native to North America
- 7% of documented trees are not native to North America
- Over 140 different species of trees exist on-campus
The most common genus was Acer, with over double the number of trees over the next most common genus, Fraxinus
- The Norway Maple was the most common species of tree on campus, followed closely by the Honeylocust at 19.2% and 13.3% respectively
- Maple trees in general were the most common tree species on campus, with Norway Maples making the largest percentage of a single tree species on-campus (19.2%), then red maples at 9.7%, and silver maples at 8.8%
69.7% of the trees on-campus were deemed to be in good condition with just 3.1% of trees being in poor condition or dying
The majority of trees on-campus (over 70%) had less than 25% or no dieback, with less than 1% of trees on-campus having more than 75% dieback
Although some information was not collected during the tree inventory, preventing some statistics from being generated, the following summarizes the statistics we were able to generate from the data collected:
Together, all the students in our class came together and each made an individual ArcGIS StoryMap to showcase many of the different tree species which exist on-campus. This StoryMap functions as a main navigational branch from which all these StoryMaps can be accessed. We hope that as you browse through our catalog you are able to learn about the benefits provided from having such a biodiverse campus here at Boise State University.
Ecosystem Services
Time for Trees: 2021
Throughout the Tree Management Plan, here on campus, we have been able to understand the importance for a diverse number of trees, their benefits, and how to manage them properly. Not only has this project helped students understand the many services provided by trees, but it also acts as a tool to teach our local communities the importance of tree health, management, and protection.
Trees act as services that are split up into four groups to be distinguished. The first one is provisioning services or the provision of food, fresh water, fuel and fiber. The next one is Regulating services which are responsible for climate control, water filtration and dispersion, disease regulation, as well as pollination. Supporting services is the third one which controls soil formation and nutrient cycling. Lastly, is cultural services which are for education purposes as well as aesthetically pleasing, and cultural values for recreation and tourism.
The most important idea I found throughout this study was how diverse the benefits are from having trees planted around campuses. Tree canopy is nonetheless the shade provided from the trees branches and leaves, thus reducing the temperature of the earth's floor. Along with reducing carbon emissions through CO2 and photosynthesis occurring, trees are also one of the best water filtration systems. Trees serve as natural sponges, collecting and filtering rainfall and releasing it slowly into streams and rivers, and are the most effective land cover for maintenance of water quality. Lastly, trees of all kinds are used everyday as viable staples to animal ecosystems. Whether it is for a squirrel to build a nest and store acorns in it for winter, or those pesky geese to fly up into and nest.
We are gifted with a very diverse array of trees including over 140 different types of trees. Each tree has its own benefits and needs, some greater than others, however, they all benefit ecosystems with the services they provide. Some trees are bigger than others, providing a bigger tree canopy, and creating more of a CO2 intake with its size. Others are smaller and more compact creating perfect hiding for squirrels and other animals from predators. Ferns act as perfect grounds for spiders to build webs to catch those pesky flies and mosquitoes. All 149 different types of trees, however, protect from soil erosion, filter water, and help disperse rainwater.
Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel." -Aldo Leopold
