Jay Hayek, Extension Forestry Specialist, compiled all the information and effort for the 1.5-acre oak-hickory teaching arboretum. The story map below contains information on the two phases of planting and great pictures of the volunteers that contributed. In addition to the story map, there is an attached Excel spreadsheet detailing the exact species in their respective plots. 

ArcGIS StoryMap: https://go.illinois.edu/oak-hickory-arboretum

Attached are the notes from the October meeting for the Campus Tree Advisory Committee. 

Link for the 2022 Illinois Urban Forestry Fact Sheet:

 https://www.nmsfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Illinois_Fact-Sheet_UF-Economic-Analysis.pdf

From: Heidi Leuszler <HLeuszler at parkland.edu>
Subject: Tree Map partnership

Hello all, I hope this finds you and yours well!

I am on the Sustainable Campus Committee at Parkland College and we are discussing updating our campus tree map and digitizing it. I am including all of you in this email because I am wondering if we do not have to recreate the wheel and can join an existing tree map in our community.

I have worked with https://www.opentreemap.org/ in the past, but the $3000 price tag per year is rather steep for us. Do any of you use this program?

In a quick search, I found the following local Tree Inventory maps (all of which Parkland campus is missing from):

City of Urbana https://urbanail.treekeepersoftware.com/index.cfm?deviceWidth=1920

UIUC campus https://illinoisedu.treekeepersoftware.com/index.cfm?deviceWidth=1920

City of Champaign ROW Trees https://cityofchampaign.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7e979451571143abbf5befb6eeb9b01b

City of Champaign  https://gis-cityofchampaign.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/cityofchampaign::city-owned-trees/explore?location=40.130930%2C-88.279305%2C13.85 

Champaign Park District https://cparkdistirct.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=88afa8b642a1464585eaad55a999dd5a

Urbana Park District https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aaX3IOinNA&t=23s (but I could not find public access to the inventory)

Is it possible we can add our campus data to an existing map? Perhaps we all partner and can add city, park, and campus data to make a more comprehensive community map.

If you are interested in this, have thoughts, know a better person to contact, etc., let me know and we can get a meeting together to discuss possibilities.

Thank you!

My best,

Heidi

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has once again been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus USA member. Specifically, the Tree Campus High Education program reviewed the Tree Care Plan, in addition to other requirements, to grant our campus the title of an offical Tree Campus. Below is a brief summary of what is needed to obtain this recoginition, each year. 

"To obtain this distinction, your campus has met the five core standards for sustainable campus forestry required by Tree Campus Higher Education, including establishment of a tree advisory committee, evidence of a campus tree care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for your campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and the sponsorship of student service learning projects. Your entire campus community should be proud of this sustained commitment to environmental stewardship."

The University of Illinois’ Tree Campus USA application has been approved at the state level! From there, the Arbor Day Foundation will receive our application for review and for final approval. Each year, the Campus Tree Advisory Committee submits a Tree Care Plan to the foundation to uphold our Tree Campus USA status. 

Below are some kind words from Mike Brunk, from the Illinois DNR, after reviewing the Tree Care Plan that included the various projects on the horizon and the progress made throughout 2021.

“Excellent Plan and some challenging and productive Service Learning projects.  The south Arboretum is a big project, and the LA internships for creating greenspace designs and selecting tree locations sounds like it is fun especially knowing that there is funding support for the installation of their plans.

…And the new canopy study looks like it will create some interesting information for you to plan with.”

Jay Hayek reached out to request access to funds to purchase some replacement trees for the NRES Oak-Hickory Arboretum at the southwest corner of Race & Windsor. Specifically, Hayek is looking to purchase 37 3 gallon & 3 gallon CG (conservation grade) oak and hickory trees. Price range $13-20/each for the desired size and species. He is wondering if he would be able to buy the trees online using his P-card and then do an internal funds transfer, or if the purchase order route is preferable. 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the U of I Master Plan, measures more than a whopping 8,000 acres of land in the Master Plan Area. On that land grows too many trees to count… or so you thought.

F&S helps count and maintain all 16,534 trees on U of I grounds. All are viewable through the U of I’s “TreeKeeper” database: https://illinoisedu.treekeepersoftware.com/index.cfm?deviceWidth=1280.

That includes more than one “State Champion” tree – meaning it is the largest of its species in Illinois.

“These trees, and all of them on campus, are valuable and a privilege to take care of,” said Brent Lewis, F&S landscape architect. “Having champions on campus shows the ability of our grounds professionals to carefully tend to their needs over many decades of time, ultimately allowing them to grow into the great specimens that we often take for granted.”

The Carolina Silverbell in the backyard of the President’s House is the latest state champion tree on campus, joining the yellowwood found in the green space north of Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall, which attained champion status on Arbor Day 2019.

In April, UIUC experts and students visited and measured the tree, confirming its status as the largest tree of its kind in the state.

“The two multi-stemmed specimens behind the President’s House are the two largest specimens of this species I’ve personally seen. Granted, I don’t come across this species very often,” said Jay Hayek, extension forestry specialist with the department of natural sciences and environmental sciences. “Carolina Silverbell is considered a state-listed endangered species here in Illinois. Its natural range is limited to just two southern Illinois counties: Massac and Pulaski. It’s not that Carolina silverbell is necessarily so ‘rare,’ it’s just that this species is simply at the extreme edge of its natural range by extending ever so slightly into the southern tip of Illinois. Even in its more natural habitat, this species is relatively uncommon.”

Since 2015, Illinois has been recognized as a Tree Campus USA, meaning the colleges and universities that most effectively manage their campus trees in an academic atmosphere. The F&S executive director charges the Campus Tree Advisory Committee, a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency outreach effort to plan forestry efforts. The Illinois Tree Campus plan is available at http://go.fs.illinois.edu/treecampus. All aid in the effort to promote healthy trees on campus and engagement with students, faculty, staff, and community members in the spirit of conservation.

Three key measurements are taken: the trunk’s circumference 4.5 feet above the ground, total height, and the average “crown spread,” which is how far the branches grow out. The tree’s “total score” is equivalent to the circumference (in inches) + height (in feet) + the average crown spread (in feet) multiplied by 0.25.

The new champion tree measurements:

Circumference = 5.57 feet or 66.8 inches • Total Height = 60 feet • Crown Spread: 54.8 feet

Total Score = 140.5 points

Via F&S Insider,

website: https://fs.web.illinois.edu/Insider/2021/07/06/what-it-takes-to-be-a-cha...