A message about campus trees and safety

Students walk on a sidewalk as trees are seen throughout the campus landscape — Photo by Colleen McInnis

�� strives to maintain the safety of its students, faculty, staff and visitors in all aspects of campus life. In line with this pursuit, Campus Services evaluates the numerous trees on campus throughout the year to inspect for damage, disease, or other declines in health that could potentially lead to limbs (or the tree itself) falling.

Late last year, �� contracted with a certified arborist to identify and evaluate trees on campus. Through this process, 9,154 trees were inventoried. This inventory and evaluation process determined that the condition of some trees—less than 1% of the total evaluated—necessitated their removal.

Bart Prather, associate director of landscape, explained that “trees identified for removal could have been damaged by weather events such as lightning or excessive wind, disease, old age, or other external stressors causing decline.” He added that, “while it is always disheartening to have to remove a tree, we plant three new trees for every one mature tree that is removed, ensuring future generations of students, faculty, staff and visitors will enjoy the beauty of this campus as much as we do now.”

�� has been designated as a Tree Campus USA since 2013. The university meets five core standards of sustainable campus forestry to earn this accolade, which is awarded by the Arbor Day Foundation. The land-grant institution annually plants 80-100 new trees on the nearly 1,500 maintained acres of the Starkville campus.

When a tree is being removed on campus, rest assured that it has been evaluated by a certified arborist, and its removal has been deemed necessary for the safety of people and property. Campus Services appreciates your interest in keeping campus clean, safe and beautiful and welcomes feedback at BPrather@campuslandscape.msstate.edu.

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