Arbor Day 2024 was April 26, and the day did not go uncelebrated on Notre Dame’s campus. The holiday that encourages the planting of trees goes back more than 150 years. In commemoration of the holiday, five new trees now adorn the area around Cavanaugh Hall, thanks to the efforts of sophomores Daniel Harrison, chair of the Siegfried Hall Outreach Committee, and Lauren Farrell, a member of the newly formed Campus Tree Care Plan (CTCP) Committee, and Beau Barnett, director of grounds and landscape. The three were joined by students from Siegfried Hall, additional grounds and landscape employees and Barbara Hellenthal, professor of the practice and curator of Notre Dame’s Museum of Biodiversity and Greene-Nieuwland Herbarium.
Harrison happened upon the Arbor Day tree planting event while looking for service events for Siegfried Hall. He took the initiative to email different departments on campus including the Landscape Services Department. “They said, ‘We are having an Arbor Day event and will be planting trees. It would be great if a few students could come over and help,’” Harrison said.
Four students came from Siegfried Hall. They were equipped with gloves and safety glasses for personal protection, along with shovels, rakes, other necessary tools and refreshments.
“This is important to do because it’s Arbor Day today, and trees are such an important part of our world. And it’s also so fun to get outside in the beautiful weather and do some service,” Harrison said.
The five trees planted include an amelanchier (serviceberry), two ace of spades redbud trees and two black gum trees.
“They are all native species which are important for supporting the birds and the insects that the birds eat, who all thrive much better on native species than they do on any introduced species that are from other parts of the world or country,” Hellenthal said. “So these are really important because they are improving and increasing the proportion of native species that we have on campus. That’s a big push with the grounds crew right now.”
Hellenthal has surveyed all of the trees on campus, with student assistance. The last survey (from 2016-2018) included 11,000 trees. The area for the new plantings was chosen with intention.
“We wanted to spruce up some areas around this building particularly that had been overgrown and aged out. So, we removed some of the old pachysandra, and we needed to freshen it up with some new plants,” Barnett explained.
Junior Michael Rauch and first-year student Victor Li, both residents of Siegfreid, joined in the activities. Harrison reached Li in a little less conventional, albeit creative fashion. Li, while availing himself of the facilities, read an ad for the service event on the back of a bathroom stall door. “I thought that was pretty cool, and I just signed up,” he said.
Farrell, a chemistry major with an environmental science supplementary major, saw the event as a good opportunity to plant a tree — something the Chicago native had never done before. “I’ve mostly done more chemistry research during my time here, so getting more involved with the environmental part of my experience here at Notre Dame with planting is really important to me.”
Sophomore Will Stotz spent a lot of years working with the Boy Scouts of America at scout camps, in the ecology and conservation area. “Nature is very close to me,” Stotz said. “This is a way to get more in touch with nature, I feel.”
The tree planting event came together in a fortuitous manner. Along with Harrison’s service mission, Barnett is working toward gaining Tree Campus Higher Education recognition, through the Arbor Day Foundation, for Notre Dame. The program helps colleges and universities establish and sustain healthy community forests. Tree Campus Higher Education has been recognizing colleges and universities since 2008 and currently recognizes 410 campuses, with 16 in the state of Indiana. The recognition is awarded annually.
Barnett explained that his department and the CTCP committee are following five overarching standards set by the Arbor Day Foundation:
- Establishment of a campus tree advisory committee
- Evidence of a campus tree care plan
- Verification of the plan’s dedicated annual expenditures
- Observing Arbor Day
- Creating a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body
In addition to Barnett, committee members include Ron Hellenthal, professor emeritus and director of the Museum of Biodiversity; Barbara Hellenthal; Brian Anders, planting crew supervisor in landscape services; and Tim Dyczko, supervisor superintendent in Landscape Services. Three students also serve on the committee: Michael Parent, Ella Maier and Farrell.
Anders was on hand to work with the students as they planted the trees. “I believe that we are creating a much stronger collaboration today than maybe what we’ve had in the past with student engagement,” he said.
This was the inaugural Arbor Day celebration, Barnett added.
“I know I’ve spoken to a lot of my long tenured employees — 30 to 35-plus years — and this is the first time we’ve done anything like this,” Barnett said. “They are really excited to engage the student body and have them participate in a great stewardship event to preserve and recognize all of our great canopies and trees across campus. I’m just really excited and blessed to be a part of it, and I’m blessed that they are here helping us out.”