The University of South Carolina Upstate will celebrate Arbor Day and the university’s 10th year as Tree Campus USA with a tree-planting ceremony at 10:00 am on Tuesday, April 24th.
Students will plant three flowering apricot trees at the corner of North Campus Boulevard and American Way. A Japanese maple will also be planted in the Susan Jacobs Arboretum.
Rusty Dawkins, social media manager for the Arbor Day Foundation, will stream the events live on the Foundation’s Facebook page, as part of a tour of college campuses celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Tree Campus USA program and in support of national Arbor Day, which is April 27. USC Upstate is one of two campuses in South Carolina to be included on the five-day tour of campuses. The Foundation will make stops at Furman University, University of Michigan, Kent State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The USC Upstate campus was the first public university in the state to achieve the designation and is one of six universities in the state to be named a Tree Campus USA. The university is in prestigious company at this 10-year milestone as other recipients include Auburn University, Clemson, Duke, Furman, the University of South Carolina, University of Georgia and Florida Gulf Coast University to name a few.
USC Upstate’s campus is home to more than 2,500 inventoried trees, which when fully mature will provide a tree canopy to 60 percent of campus.
The Tree Campus USA distinction recognizes college and universities and the leaders of the campus and surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is supported by a grant from Toyota.
USC Upstate met the required five core standards of tree care and community engagement in order to receive Tree Campus USA status. Those standards are establishing 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.
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 nearly one 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 www.arborday.org.