(Posted April 21, 2021)

Lincoln, Neb.  – Juniata College was honored with 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education® recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.

"Tree Campuses and their students set examples for not only their student bodies but the surrounding communities showcasing how trees create a healthier environment,” said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Because of Juniata College’s participation, air will be purer, water cleaner and students and faculty will be surrounded by the shade and beauty trees provide.”

The Tree Campus Higher Education program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals. achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus Higher Education’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning project. Currently, there are 403 campuses across the United States with this recognition.

“Where a single tree may fall in a storm, a forest of trees often holds fast. Our collective effort to become a Tree Campus was definitely that of a forest of Juniata and Huntingdon community members,” said Norris Muth, professor of biology at Juniata. “Students, staff, faculty, and members of the Huntingdon Tree Commission, all came together to champion our existing good works and provide direction to our forested future.”

The Arbor Day Foundation has helped campuses throughout the country plant thousands of trees, and Tree Campus Higher Education colleges and universities invested more than $51 million in campus forest management last year. This work directly supports the Arbor Day Foundation’s Time for Trees initiative — an unprecedented effort to plant 100 million trees in forests and communities and inspire 5 million tree planters by 2022. Last year, Tree Campus Higher Education schools have collectively planted 39,178 trees and engaged 81,535 tree planters — helping us work toward these critical goals.

More information about the program is available at treecampushighered.org.

About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a million-member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.