PORTALES, NM – May 17, 2021 – Eastern New Mexico University earned a 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, thanks to the University’s 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 ENMU’s participation, air will be purer, water 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. ENMU achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus Higher Education’s five standards, which include maintaining a Tree Advisory Committee, a campus TreeCare Plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its Campus Tree Program, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning project. Currently there are 403 campuses across the U.S. with this recognition.
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 collectively planted 39,178 trees and engaged 81,535 tree planters, helping the foundation’s work toward these critical goals.
More information about the program is available at http://www.TreeCampusHigherEd.org.
About the Arbor Day Foundation: 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 https://www.ArborDay.org.
