February 22, 2011 - Nebraska City, Neb. – Today, the non-profit Arbor Day Foundation announced that Albany Technical College earned Tree Campus USA recognition for 2010 for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship. This is the third year Albany Tech has been named a Tree Campus USA.
Tree Campus USA is a national program that honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy management of their campus forests and 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.
“By encouraging its students to plant trees and participate in services that will help the environment, Albany Technical College 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 Albany will certainly benefit from Albany Technical College’s commitment to Tree Campus USA.”
Albany Tech 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 treecare plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.
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, including Albany Tech, were named a Tree Campus USA in 2008, and in three years, the number of schools has more than tripled.
Albany Tech will plant another tree in observance of Arbor Day on next Thursday, March 3, 2011, on the grounds east of Prosperity Hall. More details will be forthcoming as this event will also commemorate the College’s 50th Anniversary ongoing celebration.
For more information about the Tree Campus USA program, visit www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.