St. Lawrence Recognized as a 2025 Tree Campus
Did you know there is a tree for every student on St. Lawrence University’s campus? And that roughly 48 acres of campus are designated no-mow zones to allow for a thriving ecology? And that, just last year, the University planted 89 additional trees around campus?
These facts and more are part of what helped earn St. Lawrence national recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation as a 2025 Tree Campus. The achievement, which St. Lawrence has earned three years in a row, demonstrates the University’s commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainability, and community engagement by meeting the rigorous standards set forth by the Foundation.
There are two components to being recognized as a Tree Campus, according to Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Sara Ashpole who, along with help from her students, submitted the application for this achievement.
The first is tabulating everything the University does to plant, care for, maintain, and generally manage its trees on campus. Ashpole says that Tree Campus universities must spend a certain amount of money on trees based on the number of students on campus, and that St. Lawrence exceeds that value.
The second requirement, she says, is everything the University does to celebrate its trees.
Anyone who’s stepped foot on campus knows it owes its serenity to the trees. From the famous "Avenue of the Elms” that welcomes visitors in cinematic fashion, to the “Enchanted Forest” that surrounds students on their walk to Richardson Hall, to the Zen Garden where students can study in tranquil calm, trees are responsible for as much of the campus character as the students themselves. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that St. Lawrence does a lot to celebrate and maintain them.
“Every year we have a week of Arbor Day celebrations,” says Ashpole. “This includes everything from tree identification walks, creating artwork celebrating trees, planting them, to even documentaries and poetry created by students, faculty, and staff.”
Ashpole started applying for the Tree Campus recognition three years ago through her course, Ecological Restoration, which features hands-on lab classes, research projects, and real-world case studies and grant applications. It was in this class that one of her seniors, Zach Lawrence ’23, decided to see if he could get St. Lawrence recognized as a national Tree Campus and tackled the application as his research project.
“That first year I worked with this student to develop and apply for it, and now the last two years I’ve involved other students in preparing the report,” Ashpole says.
This year, she says, there’s a new campus tree committee that will start helping with the application process and work to educate the campus community about our trees, sustainability efforts, and environmental ethic.
Matthew Ferland ’25, president of the tree committee, says the group tries to get people involved in tree-related events, such as inventorying efforts and planting and seeding days. Members are also in the process of developing a comprehensive tree-mapping database—led by GIS Librarian Carol Cady and Charlie Beams ’25—so anyone on campus can keep track of which trees are growing and where.
“I think what makes the Tree Campus Committee important is how we’re able to bring people from different parts of the community together to unite in sustainability initiatives,” Ferland says.
Ashpole echoes that sentiment, and says she was surprised just how many people—all from different backgrounds and areas of expertise—have offered to help plant, protect, and celebrate our campus ecology.
“I get emails from every department from people who want to help us in any way they can to reach our goal,” she says. “In many ways trees are for everybody and bring our whole campus together.”
