Grounds Practices

Working Group Minutes

Meeting Minutes
November 29, 2005

Attendees: Nancy Apple, Ellen Shukis, Rick Bigelow, Brian Clark, Russ Billings, Tom Clark, Morgan Lindsay

I. Tree Celebration

Ellen reported on the November 2nd “Celebrating and Protecting Our Roots” event. Attendance was down from last year at least in part due to the weather. The plan is to make this an annual event, possibly moving it to the Spring with the potential for warmer weather and more people thinking about getting outdoors.

II. Tree Preservation Guidelines

Ellen presented a draft document, “Trees and Soil at Mount Holyoke College” for discussion. Discussion focused on protection, remediation, testing, and education.

Protection
Keeping vehicles and foot traffic off turf is a protection priority. Important vehicle groups are MHC staff; largely Facilities and Dining; contractors; delivery vehicles; families during move in/move out; and faculty, staff and visitors, when parking in an area is limited.

There is an existing Facilities Management policy regarding vehicular traffic on turf and sidewalks which needs to be revived and reviewed. The goal is to have best management practices similar to those developed for storm water management which are widely known and adhered to, included in contractor contracts, and enforced.

The recent addition of curbs on campus roads should help control particularly during move in/move out.

A particular issue that came up was early morning newspaper deliveries, the driver drives throughout campus on the sidewalks and soil areas. It is unclear who the campus contact person is for this vendor.

With regard to pedestrian travel, education is the key. Other schools have used fences and signs, there may be some areas on campus where that would be appropriate here as well.

Remediation
The consensus was that we should designate a pilot area around the grave for remediation and to test protection strategies. Included would be enlarging tree rings, radial trenching, introduction of earth worms, and specifying compost/mulch requirements. Ellen indicated there are some additional areas that need remediation soon as well. Ellen and Brian will develop a budget request for this project.

The importance of keeping leaf litter on campus was also discussed. Composting began at the storage yard this year, but more is still being generated that we have capacity for. Other locations need to be investigated.

Testing
Ellen has talked with Beth Hooker, Earth and Environment, about incorporating a testing program into coursework. This could establish a baseline and document the benefit of remediation. We do not know if we have the equipment. It may be possible to cooperate with the UMass soil science department.

Education
Education will be the key to the success of the effort. We need the entire campus to embrace the goals and change behavior.

One venue identified for next term discussion is the FM large staff group.