Arbor Day Foundation Names SCC a Tree Campus USA College

Published: 02/24/2011

Tree Campus USA is a national program that honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy management of their campus forests for engaging the community in environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is a program of the Arbor Day Foundation and is supported by a grant from Toyota.

“This is great news for us,” said Dan Porter, SCC grounds supervisor and member of the SCC Tree Advisory Committee. “We’ve always taken great pride in urban forestry and respected the importance of healthy trees on campus, so the many years of hard work have finally paid off.”

“By encouraging its students to plant trees and participate in a service that will help the environment, SCC is making a positive impact on its community that will last for decades,” said John Rosenow, chief executive and founder of the Arbor Day Foundation. “One goal of the Tree Campus USA program is to help create healthier communities for its citizens through the planting of trees, and the city of Cottleville will certainly benefit from the school’s commitment to Tree Campus USA.”

SCC met the five core standards of tree care and community engagement in order to receive Tree Campus USA status. The standards are: establish a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.

SCC is now home to more than 2,000 trees, 30 of which were planted last fall in a tree planting ceremony hosted by the SCC Tree Advisory Committee. 

The SCC Tree Advisory Committee includes the following members: Dan Porter, SCC grounds supervisor; Jennifer O’Malley, SCC assistant professor biology; Tracy Powers, SCC science lab coordinator; Samantha Britton, SCC student; Sarah Ruhland, SCC alumna; and Mark Grueber and Perry Eckhardt, Missouri Department of Conservation urban foresters.

The committee partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Community Tree Council of St. Charles, the Missouri Community Forestry Council, and Warren and Lincoln counties to obtain the Tree Campus USA certification.

The Arbor Day Foundation launched Tree Campus USA in the fall of 2008 by planting trees at nine college campuses throughout the United States. Twenty-nine schools were named a Tree Campus USA in 2008, and in three years the number of schools has more than tripled.

More information about the Tree Campus USA program is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.

The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of more than 1 million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.

St. Charles Community College is a public, comprehensive two-year community college with associate degrees and certificate programs in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields. SCC provides workforce training and community-based personal and professional development as well as cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities. For more information, visit www.stchas.edu.