Arbor Day Foundation honors University of Missouri with 2019 Tree Campus USA® recognition

For the third straight year, the University of Missouri was honored with 2019 Tree Campus USA® 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 the University of Missouri's participation air will be purer, water cleaner and students, faculty and staff will be surrounded by the shade and beauty the trees provide.”

The Tree Campus USA program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging faculty, staff and students in conservation goals. University of Missouri achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’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.

“We are thrilled the Arbor Day Foundation has reviewed the MU Campus Tree Advisory Committee’s application and awarded Mizzou this designation for the third year in a row,” said Jenna Rozum, the horticulture manager for MU Campus Facilities - Landscape Services who chairs the committee. “It’s a big deal. Fewer than 400 campuses in the country have earned this recognition.”

Tree Campus USA 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 five-million tree planters by 2022.

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.

Story by Jan Wiese-Fales