OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Arbor Day Foundation has recognized SUNY Oswego under its Tree Campus Higher Education program for the school’s “commitment to effective urban forest management.” The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. Its Tree Campus Higher Education program began in 2008 to encourage colleges and […]
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Arbor Day Foundation has recognized SUNY Oswego under its Tree Campus Higher Education program for the school’s “commitment to effective urban forest management.” The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. Its Tree Campus Higher Education program began in 2008 to encourage colleges and universities to plant trees on their campuses, per SUNY Oswego’s announcement. Trees on campus and in urban spaces can lower energy costs by providing shade cover, cleaner air and water, and green spaces for students and faculty, the Arbor Day Foundation said in a news release announcing the distinction (cited in the SUNY Oswego announcement). In addition, trees improve students’ mental and cognitive health, provide an appealing aesthetic for campuses, and create shaded areas for studying and gathering. For Earth Month 2024 in April, SUNY Oswego participated in related special events and activities that including Arbor Day plantings, programs, and tree giveaways, along with a maple breakfast using sap harvested on campus, the school said. Kate Spector, SUNY Oswego’s sustainability director, noted that the connection goes all the way back to the institution’s beginnings, as founder Edward Austin Sheldon was a botanist and known for his love of trees. The campus in 1961 established the Centennial Arboretum, which was part of acknowledging the 100th anniversary of the institution’s founding. Seventy-four organizations were the original supporters of the Centennial Arboretum, which is located outside Moreland Hall on Washington Boulevard, SUNY Oswego said. On Arbor Day 2022, SUNY Oswego rededicated the arboretum in a collaboration between the Office of Sustainability, Rice Creek Field Station and Oswego Tree Stewards — and continues to add and maintain trees in this space, per the announcement. The Rice Creek Field Station, located about a mile south of the main campus, is a unit of SUNY Oswego that is “dedicated to the support of academic instruction, research, and public service in all aspects of natural history, especially the natural sciences and environmental education,” per its website.