Buffalo State Earns Arbor Day Foundation 2022 Tree Campus Distinction
The Arbor Day Foundation has officially recognized Buffalo State University as part of its 2022 Tree Campus Higher Education program for the university’s commitment to effective urban forest management and dedication to including green spaces on campus.
The program honors colleges and universities for effective campus forest management and engaging staff and students in conservation goals. Buffalo State achieved the distinction by meeting Tree Campus Higher Education’s five standards: 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, 411 campuses across the United States have attained this recognition.
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. Its Tree Campus Higher Education program began in 2008 to encourage colleges and universities to plant trees on their campuses.
The Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum at Buffalo State University was formally dedicated in 1962 in honor of Maud Gordon Holmes, founder of the Garden Center Institute of Buffalo. Since then, the arboretum has grown from 300 trees to over 1,400. The Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum includes many varying species of trees and numerous landscape beds featuring vibrant flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals. The campus displays greenery year-round while marking the seasons with fragrant blossoms, shade-giving trees, and luminous autumn colors.
Since 2019, the Friends of the Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum has hosted a series of annual Big Dig volunteer tree-planting events on campus to increase the diversity of trees in the campus arboretum and offset those lost to storm damage, construction, infestation, and disease. The group also brings speakers and organizes events to celebrate and encourage sustainability and green initiatives on the campus and in the community. A number of events are planned throughout the month of April 2023 to recognize Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 28).
Trees on campuses and in urban spaces can lower energy costs by providing shade cover, cleaner air and water, and green spaces for students and faculty. In addition, trees improve students’ mental and cognitive health, provide an appealing aesthetic for campuses, and create shaded areas for studying and gathering.
"Trees not only play a vital role in the environment but also in our daily lives,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Having trees on college and university campuses is a great way to show a commitment to students and faculty’s overall well-being.”
About the Arbor Day Foundation
Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. With a focus in communities and forests of greatest need, the foundation—alongside its more than 1 million members, supporters, and valued partners—has helped plant nearly 500 million trees in more than 50 countries. Guided by its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation is committed to unlocking the power of trees to help solve critical issues facing people and the planet. Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.
Media Contacts:
Steven S. Sypniewski
Assistant Campus Planner and Arboretum Manager
Buffalo State University
(716) 878-6652
Jeff Salem
Arbor Day Foundation
(402) 473-2024
