BROWNWOOD – April 9, 2021 – Howard Payne University was recently honored with 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® status by the Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of the university’s commitment to effective urban forest management. HPU has now received the recognition for five consecutive years.
“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 HPU’s participation, air will be purer, water will be 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. HPU achieved the title by meeting the program’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 a student service-learning project. Currently, there are 403 campuses across the United States with this recognition.
“I would like to thank grounds supervisor Kenny Richardson and Alan Fisher, Martin Venzor, Montana Early, J.C. Churchill, as well as all of our student workers, for their tireless efforts to make the campus grounds and athletic fields what they are – amazingly beautiful,” said Roger Dewell, director of facilities at HPU. “They strive daily to come up with new ideas on improving the look and health of all vegetation and trees on our campus.”
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 the foundation work toward these critical goals.
More information about the program is available at www.treecampushighered.org. 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 www.arborday.org.
More information about HPU is available at www.hputx.edu.
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Cutline #1: Tree Campus Higher Education® logo
Cutline #2: HPU was recently honored with 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® status by the Arbor Day Foundation.