07/12/2022
By Edward Brennen

UMass Lowell has once again been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus for its commitment to promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation.

The Tree Campus Higher Education program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. There are currently 411 campuses across the United States with this recognition, but just 14 in New England and only six in Massachusetts.

The university is now taking steps to be classified as an arboretum by ArbNet, a nonprofit dedicated to helping create and conserve arboreta around the world.

UMass Lowell has been certified as a Tree Campus since 2011. It achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning project.

At the university’s annual Arbor Day event in April, students helped plant 17 trees — including red maples, sugar maples, elms and magnolia — in front of Leitch and Bourgeois halls. The university’s tree care plan is managed by Facilities Management’s Grounds Department.

Read more about the university’s Tree Campus designation.