With more than 1,200 trees covering its nearly 250-acre main campus, it shouldn’t be surprising that Rose-Hulman has been designated a Tree Campus by the Arbor Day Foundation.

However, the Tree Campus USA honor is about more than trees, as pointed out by Justin Perry, manager of grounds services in the Office of Facilities Operations. Colleges are honored for building connections within their campus communities for fostering healthy urban forests and engaging students through service learning opportunities centered on campus and community forestry efforts.

The recognition of the 2017 Tree Campus USA program will be featured, along with tree plantings by faculty, staff and students, as the college celebrates Arbor Day on Friday, April 27, at 1:45 p.m. in the lawn south of the Olin Advanced Learning Center.

Rose-Hulman’s service project for 2017 had students and faculty advisers of the HERE program, a living-learning experience for a select group of first-year students, taking inventory of nearly all of the trees on the college’s sprawling campus. They used GPS equipment to map and document the different tree varieties, and identify any health issues with specific trees.

Colleges earning the Tree Campus USA designation also must have a tree care plan and dedicate annual expenditures for an annual campus tree program. This program helps educate the campus community about the importance of Rose-Hulman’s forest and the protection/maintenance of trees that’s part of the institute’s growth and land development.

Perry points out that the Tree Campus USA nomination was submitted before Rose-Hulman added more than 1,100 acres, several with forested terrain, to the campus last August. This property is located just across Wabash Avenue from the college’s main campus.

Rose-Hulman is among 344 campuses across the United States to earn the Tree Campus USA recognition.