The ICECF Final Report and related documents can be found attached:

Yuhze Zhang, leader of the Master plan team in EPA Rainworks Challenge 2021, asked Brent Lewis, UIUC's campus landscape architect, for some data for the challenge. Data asked for includes campus storm peak runoff, existing green infrastructure, turf lawn irrigation.

More information regarding the data can be found in the email chain attached below.

Another participant of the EPA Rainworks Challenge, Matthew Rodriguez, also requested data.

This email chain is attached below.

The Water Reuse Handbook is also attached below (attachment from both email chains).

On October 18, 2021, the Campus Landscape Master Plan - Core Planning Committee Charge Letter was sent out to its members.

In this document, Ehab Kamara, the Interim Executive director of Facilities and Services, outlines the responsibilities of committee members and background information for this project. 

See the attached file to read the charge letter.

As of October 16, 2021, F&S Building Services does not have a Green Cleaning Certificate. However, this is not preventing F&S from trying to implement sustainable practices. 

Right now, F&S Building Services is performing green cleaning practices in the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF) and the new addition to the iHotel Conference Center. This is being done by aligning practices with green cleaning standards to the best ability possible.

Moving forward, the university is transitioning towards having Housing implement its own green cleaning process. However, efforts are currently delayed due to COVID-19 and ongoing staffing concerns.

Each month, the Red Oak Rain Garden (RORG) Team produces an e-newsletter to keep supporters updated on everything that is happening in the garden. In the October 2021 e-newsletter, the team highlighted RORG's seasonal plants to keep an eye out for, social media highlights, volunteer opportunities, and more!

To read their October 2021 newsletter, please see the attached file below.

iCAP 8.6 Vision Zero Meeting

10/13/2021

Stacy Gloss and Sarthak Prasad met to discuss the Vision Zero objective. Sarthak will email Vision Zero for a meeting to ask questions about a campus designation. Sarthak will also follow up with the Housing Director about a request to develop a Safety Village / Traffic Garden project in partnership with Cynthia Hoyle at MTD for children to learn about bike and pedestrian safety.  The project site is proposed for the abandoned streets on the corner of Florida and Race, adjacent to Orchard Downs campus property.

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...