DePauw recognized as one of eight Indiana Tree Campuses

DePauw University and seven other Indiana colleges and universities have achieved Tree Campus USA status for outstanding management of their urban forests, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced.

In addition to DePauw, the honored institutions are Butler, Indiana State, IUPUI, Indiana University, Ivy Tech (Sellersburg), Purdue and Vincennes.

The acknowledgements were made by the Indiana DNR Division of Forestry and the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Indiana has doubled the number of Tree Campus USA institutions from four in previous years due to the focused work from students and staff, and support from members of the Indiana Urban Forest Council.

Tree Campus started in 2008 with Indiana University-Bloomington and Indiana State University as the first two campuses in Indiana with this status.


To achieve Tree Campus USA status, higher education institutions must establish a Campus Tree Advisory Committee of students, faculty, facility staff, and the community at large. They must develop a campus tree care plan and campus tree program with dedicated annual expenditures for tree planting care and maintenance.

Along with an observance of Arbor Day on campus or in the community, they also must coordinate a student service learning project.


Nationally there are 152 Tree Campuses in 41 states and the District of Columbia consisting of 30 two-year schools and 122 four-year schools. More than 1.9 million students attend a Tree Campus USA.