Virginia Tech
OP-T2-21: Tree Campus USA

Virginia Tech has been a Tree Campus USA since the program’s inception in 2008. In 2008, the National Arbor Day Foundation recognized Virginia Tech for its best practices in campus forestry and chose Virginia Tech as one of eight universities to take part in the Campus Tree Tour 2008, a tree-planting event to officially kick off the Tree Campus USA program. In order to receive Tree Campus USA status, Virginia Tech met the five core standards of tree care and community engagement. The standards include: establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body. A total of 100 trees were planted during the 2008 event, which took place during Virginia Tech’s Sustainability Week. The tree plantings that satisfy the service learning (Sustainability Week) and Arbor Day observance standards are an integral part of the university’s efforts to plant native trees and reforest areas of campus. For more information about the Campus Tree Tour 2008, please see: http://www.facilities.vt.edu/sustainability/images/2008_Tree_Campus_USA_VT_release.pdf Virginia Tech’s participation in the Campus Tree Tour 2008 and recognition as a Tree Campus USA earned the university the 2009 Governor’s Environmental Excellence “Bronze” Award. In 2009 and 2010, Virginia Tech was again awarded the Tree Campus USA recognition from the National Arbor Day Foundation. To view the award letter from 2010, please see: http://www.facilities.vt.edu/documents/sustainability/2010_Tree_Campus_Notification.pdf To view one of the road signs designating Virginia Tech as a Tree Campus Use please see: http://www.facilities.vt.edu/documents/sustainability/unlinked/STARS/OP/DSCN1216.JPG Also in 2010, Virginia Tech participated in the National Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA Root for Your Home Team contest. More than 900 Virginia Tech students, alums, donors and supporters signed up to become Tree Planters, which was more than any other Tree Campus USA college or university. By finishing with the most Tree Planters, Virginia Tech won the Root for Your Home Team contest and received $2,500 in free trees from the National Arbor Day Foundation. In 2011, Virginia Tech earned its third consecutive Tree Campus USA recognition. To view the press release, please see: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/03/031011-vpas-treecampus.html During Earth Week 2011, a Celebration Ceremony and tree planting were held to plant the trees that Virginia Tech was awarded from the Root for Your Home Team contest. Virginia Tech President Steger and Doug Domenech, the Commonwealth of Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources and VT alum, presented at the ceremony and planted the ceremonial tree. Over 100 volunteers participated in the event and helped to plant trees. To view photos from the event, please see: http://www.facilities.vt.edu/sustainability/earth_week.asp Virginia Tech recently earned its fourth and fifth consecutive Tree Campus USA recognition in 2012 and 2013, respectively. A tree planting ceremony will be held during Earth Week 2013 to celebrate Virginia Tech's continued commitment to being a Tree Campus USA. To view a recent Virginia Tech News article about the 2013 Tree Campus USA recognition, please see: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/03/030113-vpas-treecampususa.html