The stunning sight of the elms on the university’s historic Oval as well as the beauty of trees throughout campus inspired voters to choose Colorado State University as the favorite Tree Campus USA .
The Tree Campus USA Celebrate Arbor Day Event contest launched on Sept. 25. It was open to all 2013 recognized Tree Campuses. Fifty-one campuses entered the contest and 20 schools were selected as finalists for the online voting competition, which ran from Oct. 15-22. Over 53,000 votes were cast during that time period. The winners were announced Oct. 24.
Top Tree Campuses
The top five schools with the most votes were awarded $500 each to host Arbor Day Celebration events for their campuses. CSU competed against nine other large universities who are all designated as Tree Campuses.
“This contest generated a great deal of energy around our campus trees. We hope to build on that momentum with future plantings and educational events,” said Jamie Dahl, experiential learning coordinator with the Colorado State Forest Service and CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources.
The contest was hosted by Tree Campus USA which is an Arbor Day Foundation program sponsored in partnership with Toyota.
Big plans for Arbor Day 2015
For the past three years, CSU Facilities Management and the Colorado State Forest Service have hosted an Arbor Day tree campus event which includes tree planting. By winning the Tree Campus USA Event Contest, CSU can use the $500 to grow the existing Arbor Day celebration by combining it with Earth Day and Natural Resources Days. More trees, more students and more community involvement will create an event that benefits both the campus and Fort Collins community.
“CSU has big plans for our 2015 Arbor Day celebration,” said Dahl. “The event would focus around education and awareness about the care of our campus trees.”
Became a Tree Campus in 2012
CSU became a Tree Campus USA in 2012. It has retained the designation by continuing to meet Tree Campus USA’s standards which include having a campus tree-care plan, providing student service-learning project opportunities and engaging the community in conversations about urban tree care.
CSU has more than 4,500 trees and many diverse species planted on main campus alone.
