Skidmore College
OP-9: Landscape Management

Skidmore's unmanaged grounds include 980 acres of undeveloped woodland, 18 acres of building and facilities footprint, 20 acres of parking lots, 4.2 miles of roadway, 8.3 miles of walkway, 5 acres of synthetic turf, and less than 1 acre of ponds.

The land included here is managed or monitored by the Sustainability Office. The solar array property (113 acres) is a low-mow area with grass and wildflowers. The North Woods is 155 acres of hardwood forest adjacent to the built area of campus, providing space for community recreation and academic research. The trail network is maintained by student North Woods Stewards employed by the Sustainability Office, 2 students in the summer and 1 in the academic year. These students conduct trail maintenance, manage invasive plant species to create zones for protected species to thrive, and lead projects on trail improvements and communication. Our compost site (1.8 acres) manages a variety of inputs from lands and grounds, including horse manure, leaves, and wood chips. The site and windrows of compost are managed by Sustainability Office staff and student employees, and the front meadow of the lot is a low-mow area.

The Sustainability Office's North Woods Stewards maintain an invasive species management program each summer in the campus North Woods, removing invasive plants to create protected zones for native species to thrive.

The college hosts a variety of water infiltration features, most importantly one centrally located "Haupt Pond" with cattails and native marsh grasses and a retention pond with native wildflowers at the site. These features capture and filter rainwater.

Skidmore composts landscaping debris and horse manure at the College's larger-scale composting facility. The compost generated at this site is used on the College's landscaped beds.

In addition, the student-run compost program collects food scraps from campus apartments. The compost that is generated from this project is used on the Skidmore Community Garden, an organic garden that supplies food to the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall.

Skidmore’s main campus is carefully monitored to avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides. In some instances, the Grounds department will cautiously spot-treat specific locations to prevent the spread of disease or pests, ensuring healthy plant communities while minimizing the overall use of synthetic applications.

The College owns and maintains over 1000 acres of forestland and low-maintenance turf. A portion of these lands are currently managed under specific stewardship guidelines, and a subgroup of the Campus Sustainability Subcommittee is currently developing a detailed land stewardship plan for the all college-owned forest land.

Skidmore composts landscaping debris and horse manure at the College's larger-scale composting facility. The compost generated at this site is used on the College's landscaped beds. Additionally, the student-run compost program collects food scraps from campus apartments. The compost generated from this project is used on the Skidmore Community Garden, an organic garden that supplies food to the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall.

Skidmore’s main campus is carefully monitored to avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides. In some instances, the Grounds department will cautiously spot-treat specific locations to prevent the spread of disease or pests, ensuring healthy plant communities while minimizing the overall use of synthetic applications.

The College owns over 1000 acres of forestland and low-maintenance turf. A portion of these lands are currently managed under specific stewardship guidelines, and a subgroup of the Campus Sustainability Subcommittee is currently developing a detailed land stewardship plan for the all college-owned forest land.

In 2014, a student North Woods Steward presented a proposal to the College calling for the removal of problematic invasive species on campus. In 2015, the College accepted the proposal and committed to eradicating invasive species from the developed portion of campus. In August 2015, over 80 Japanese barberry and burning bush plants were removed from landscaped beds and replaced with native species.

Skidmore has several rain gardens and bio-retention basins to capture and filter stormwater. The College also employed xeriscaping in an apartment village to minimize water use.