SUNY Old Westbury has been honored with 2019 Tree Campus USA® recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management. This marks the fourth consecutive year the campus has earned the honor.
"Providing for students a campus that appreciates and protects its surroundings is an important element of our campus' operations," said Calvin O. Butts, III, president of SUNY Old Westbury. "Our campus boasts 604 wooded acres, 328 of which that are preserved forever, and we remain committed to ensuring our campus serves for our students as an oasis of natural beauty amid the suburban landscape that surrounds us."
The Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. SUNY Old Westbury 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 385 campuses across the United States with this recognition.
"Tree Campuses and their students set examples for not only their student bodies but the surrounding communities showcasing how trees create a healthier environment,” said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Because of SUNY Old Westbury's participation air will be purer, water cleaner and your students and faculty will be surrounded by the shade and beauty the trees provide.”
The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities invested more than $51 million in campus forest management last year. This work directly supports the Arbor Day Foundation’s Time for Trees initiative — an unprecedented effort to plant 100 million trees in forests and communities and inspire 5 million tree planters by 2022. Last year, Tree Campus USA schools have collectively planted 34,515 trees and engaged 33,432 tree planters — helping us work toward these critical goals.
More information about the program is available at arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.