Rhode Island College is one of three higher education institutions in the state recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation.
For the first time, Rhode Island College has been designated a Tree Campus by the Arbor Day Foundation, the world’s largest nonprofit dedicated to planting trees.
With approximately 60 species among its thousands of trees, RIC joins Salve Regina University and Johnson and Wales University as higher education institution who’ve achieved a Tree Campus distinction.
According to James Murphy, RIC’s assistant director of facilities and operations for sustainability and logistics, the college had to meet five standards to earn the distinction: form a campus tree advisory committee; develop a campus tree care plan; establish a campus tree program with dedicated annual expenditures; host an Arbor Day observance; and create a student-driven service-learning project.
Murphy credited Matthew Richardson, associate director of facilities and operations, and RIC professors Glenn Rawson and Eric Roberts with conceiving a campus tree plan. Rawson also teamed up with Cathryn Dewolf, a RIC senior majoring in environmental studies, to develop the service-learning project.
“Around 10 students and a couple of professors walked the campus to observe various oak trees and collect acorns,” Murphy said about the project. “They did a float test by dumping the acorns in water. If the acorns floated, they were discarded but the ones that sunk were viable to be planted. From those acorns, we now have about 300 saplings growing in our tree nursery.”
At noon on April 22, the college will host its Arbor Day observance by planting a Japanese Stewartia tree on campus. At 11 a.m. on April 24, RIC will be officially recognized as a Tree Campus at the state’s annual Arbor Day festivities at Samuel Slater Memorial Park in Pawtucket. Murphy says RIC will play host to the state’s Arbor Day event in 2027.