For the fourth consecutive year, the Arbor Day Foundation has honored SUNY Old Westbury the Tree Campus USA® 2019 recognition for its commitment to effective urban forest management.
SUNY Old Westbury achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a Campus Tree Advisory Committee, Campus Tree Care Plan, Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expenditures, An Arbor Day observance, and Service-Learning Project. The standards were developed to promote healthy trees and student involvement.
SUNY College at Old Westbury is a small public college located on a 604-acre of woodland, 328 of which that are well-preserved as an oasis of natural beauty amid the suburban landscape. Calvin O. Butts, III, president of SUNY Old Westbury was quoted as saying, “providing for students a campus that appreciates and protects its surroundings is an important element of our campus’ operations.”
The recognition is a “terrific honor,” says Karl Grossman professor of journalism in media and communication program. “It is great that this oasis of green remains in Nassau County,” he added. Grossman believes this especially since what is underneath is as important as the trees — an underground pool of pure water, part of the aquifer on which Long Islanders are dependent for their portable water. In addition, it is essential to protect this land, so much of Nassau County has changed, and most of the land does not exist.
In 1950, Grossman moved along with his family to Lollipop Farm which was country-like Syosset. Lollipop Farm is long gone now. “It’s a conservation success story that the woodlands of our campus in the middle of Nassau have been saved and protected along with the unseen and precious water below,” said Grossman.
According to arborday.org, the Tree Campus USA’s program recognizes college and university campuses that can effectively manage their campus trees and are able to develop connectivity with the community beyond campus borders to foster healthy, urban forests. While also recognizing colleges and university campuses that strive to engage their student population, utilizing service-learning opportunities centered on campus, and community, forestry efforts.
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.
