Arbor Day Foundation honors EGSC with 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® Recognition

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East Georgia State College was honored with 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.
"Tree Campuses and their students set examples for not only their student bodies but the surrounding communities showcasing how trees create a healthier environment,” said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Because of EGSC’s participation, air will be purer, water cleaner and students and faculty will be surrounded by the shade and beauty trees provide.”
The Tree Campus Higher Education program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. EGSC achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus Higher Education’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. Currently there are 403 campuses across the United States with this recognition.

“East Georgia State College is very proud of its natural landscape, which lends an esthetic aspect to the educational experience at the college. Being recognized as a Tree Campus Higher Education enhances our status as an institution that recognizes and promotes the value of our natural heritage. We are lucky to be in a rural area with several different forest types on our campus. This natural landscape is not only beautiful, but it is a haven for a diverse wildlife community, and it is used for outdoor field projects in several of our biology classes,” said Dr. John Cadle, the Interim Chair of Biology. “Being part of the Tree Campus Higher Education community allows us many opportunities to celebrate the contributions that this natural setting provides to our student body and the broader community of which we are a part.”
The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus Higher Education colleges and universities invested more than $51 million in campus forest management last year. This work directly supports the Arbor Day Foundation’s Time for Trees initiative — an unprecedented effort to plant 100 million trees in forests and communities and inspire 5 million tree planters by 2022. Last year, Tree Campus Higher Education schools have collectively planted 39,178 trees and engaged 81,535 tree planters — helping us work toward these critical goals.
More information about the program is available at treecampushighered.org and on the EGSC website at http://www.ega.edu/treecampus.
About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a million-member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.