Grant to help revitalize DSU’s Tree Campus

April 28, 2017

During a summer storm in June 2015, several trees on Dakota State University’s campus were damaged so badly that physical plant workers had to cut several down.

Those trees will be replaced with the help of a South Dakota Department of Agriculture grant, specifically intended to support communities that lost trees during storms. Dakota State University was awarded $975 through this grant, and the institution will match that amount, allowing for almost $2,000 in trees to be planted on campus this summer.

The grant application emphasized the value of the landscape at DSU and the desire to improve it for future generations. To that end, physical plant staff plan to plant catalpa, swamp white oak, red oak, Black Hills spruce, Ponderosa pine, and commemoration maple trees, all purchased from a local nursery.

At Service Day on April 26, a gingko tree was planted just south of Beadle Hall, a memorial to Robert Jackson, former faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences. Funds for this tree, and four lilac bushes planted last fall, were provided by donations from Jackson’s family and friends.

“I’m excited to see the future of the trees on campus to improve,” by increasing the health, number and diversity of trees on campus, said Grounds Specialist Ted LaFleur at the memorial tree planting ceremony. There are about 230 trees on the campus, seven conifer species and 20 deciduous.

In 2016 DSU was named a Tree Campus USA.