The University of Maryland is honored for a fourth time by the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation.
The Tree Campus USA award honors colleges and universities for engaging students in promoting healthy trees and conservation. UMD met five standards set by the Arbor Day Foundation including a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual funds for the campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and sponsorship for student service-learning projects.
The university says the campus has some 8,140 trees, about 3,865 of which have been tagged for having a diameter of six inches or more. It says about 120 have ``display tags'' with more information.
"As President of the University of Maryland, I am pleased and proud that our University has again received this distinct and unique honor," said Wallace Loh. "It recognizes that we are doing our part to protect and promote our precious but fragile environment. And it recognizes that our students value a beautiful and natural environment in which to live and study. I thank the Arbor Day Foundation for this very important designation."
UMD does have a local competitor in Northwest’s American University, whose won the award at least twice.
During 2011, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota helped campuses throughout the country plant 30,000 trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities have invested more than $22 million in campus forest management.
