Hope College has received 2024 Tree Campus recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, the seventh year in a row that the foundation has honored Hope for its dedication for enhancing community well-being through tree education, investment and community engagement.
The Tree Campus program recognizes schools, universities and healthcare facilities that utilize trees to improve their communities. Hope earned the designation by upholding five core standards including maintaining an advisory committee, setting a campus tree care plan, verifying annual investment in the tree care plan, celebrating Arbor Day and creating a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.
鈥淭rees have the power to inspire learning and improve well-being,鈥� said Michelle Saulnier, vice president of programs at the Arbor Day Foundation. 鈥淏y growing campus green spaces, forward-thinking higher education leaders like Hope are cultivating vibrant learning communities that also benefit the greater environment.鈥�
Trees on campus can lower the energy cost of campus facilities by providing shade cover, reducing extreme heat, improving air quality, and boosting physical health benefits for students and staff. In addition, trees improve students鈥� mental and cognitive health, provide an appealing aesthetic for campuses, and create shaded areas for gathering and studying.鈥�
The Hope campus is populated by more than 2,000 trees, representing approximately 100 different species from around the world, spread across some 200 acres. Among its other activity focused on the campus鈥� trees, Hope has made a tradition of planting trees during each Campus Sustainability Month (October), Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (the last Friday in April).
A tree inventory project coordinated by Hope College, the City of Holland (which has been recognized as a Tree City USA every year since 1981) and Holland in Bloom has compiled information online about trees on campus as well as on city property and streetside throughout the community, more than 14,000 trees in total. Interactive maps provide opportunities to learn about the trees鈥� collective benefit as well as about trees individually. Hope鈥檚 site featuring the campus is available at hope.edu/trees, and the city鈥檚 site is available at .
The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. Its network of more than a million supporters and partners has helped the organization plant more than 500 million trees in forests and communities across more than 60 countries since 1972.
The Arbor Day Foundation鈥檚 Tree Campus program is operated in partnership with the National Association of State Foresters and support from professional partner Bartlett Tree Experts. More information about the foundation and the program is available at .
More information about sustainability efforts at Hope is available at hope.edu/sustainability.