The Arbor Day Foundation recently honored Belmont University for its conservation efforts and its commitment to effective urban forest management by recognizing it as a Tree Campus USA® for 2016. This is Belmont’s 3rd consecutive year receiving the recognition.
Created in 2008, Tree Campus USA® is a national program that honors colleges and universities committed to engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Belmont achieved the title by meeting the programs’ five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, having a campus tree care plan, dedicating annual expenditures for its campus tree program, having an Arbor Day observance and engaging students in a related service-learning project. Belmont is one of only 296 campuses across the country to achieve this honor.
Belmont is committed to its campus-wide sustainability efforts and has a number of green initiatives that contribute to campus conservation including LEED certified buildings, educational and sustainable green roofs, geothermal heating and cooling systems and its Tennessee arboretum designation.
The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus USA colleges and universities invested more than $46.7 million in campus forest management last year.
