The following project updates were provided by Allen Parrish on July 30, 2021:

• The air seeder is ordered and should arrive in the next couple of weeks.
• Cover crop seed plates are ordered to use a planter for cover crop seeding.
• Several types of seeded have been done (7.5, 15, 30, and surface broadcasting.)
• Seed orders are currently in the process of being placed.
• The Animal Science Building will be getting the first fields planted after the harvest silage in late August 2021 / early September 2021.
• An estimate for acereage planted can be provided in November 2021.

“Chuck: You mentioned recently the patio had some weeds that needed to be cleaned up.  I took these photos today.  The areas in the photo are student garden areas.  I did see someone in one of the garden areas southeast of LAR last week.  I am not clear if she was there to work in the garden or perhaps for other research work.

John: Would you be able to assist (organize some student help perhaps) with weeding in the patio gardens?  Could you also  include the student garden plantings at the main east entry to the building as well as the smaller gardens each side of the drive at Lincoln Ave.?  These are the first areas people will encounter at move in.”

-Wayne Bugaj (07/27/2021)

“Hello All,

Yesterday I did some cleanup along with Sara Mason, a former LAR LLC member who graduated last year.  We pulled weeds by the small beds near the wheelchair ramp and did some trimming in the front beds including the one near Lincoln Ave. Two other former LLC students from 2016 and 17 helped a couple times this summer with some very basic weeding.  The people who started this maintain an interest, but most have let town.  The virus and “student priorities” have kept the regular LLC students from doing anything in the plantings for about 2 seasons.  Hopefully that will change this year.   Basically the plantings are mostly doing well.  They need some weeding and thinning.  A couple spots on the S side of the front steps and SW side of the building have areas where one or two species have taken over.  Some replanting would probably be good there, but is not critical.

The main goal of providing pollinator resources is definitely being met.

Chris Murphy told me in the spring that he hoped to get a faculty member to oversee a few students who could get credit for maintaining the plantings. 

 Anyway things look better now.  We took out 2.5  35 gallon cans of weeds.

 I hope this helps”

-John Marlin (07/29/2021)

ECEB solar panels have been generating power since April 2020. Building energy use is offset by the ECEB solar panel production and, since February when a contract between F&S and ECE has been in place, the excess energy use not offset by the ECEB solar panels is being replaced through solar renewable energy credits (SRECS) from Solar Farm2. These credits are being paid for by the ECE Power and Energy group.

On July 26, 2021, the Zero Waste iCAP Team met to discuss Reusable Dining Options. In this call, Thurman Etchison, Justin Holding, Meredith Moore, Alexa Smith, and Avery Maloto spoke about a reusable to-go container program that is scheduled to launch at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester.

Key takeaways from the call include the purchase of 10,000 reusable containers that will soon be available at Ikenberry, ISR, and LAR dining halls.

See the attached file to read the meeting notes.

From: White, Morgan <mbwhite at illinois.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2021 4:46 PM
To: Lewis, Brent C <bcl at illinois.edu>; Liggett, Betsy Jo <bliggett at illinois.edu>
Cc: Moore, Meredith Kaye <mkm0078 at illinois.edu>
Subject: current count of green infrastructure

Hi Brent and Betsy,

In the Green Infrastructure Project list at \\Fandsu360\Sustainability\iCAP Projects\04 Land and Water Projects\Green Infrastructure Project List, I count 39 GSI installations constructed on campus (skipping the one Rain Barrel location).

Do you concur that it is the right number for our annual count in the iCAP Portal metrics?

Thanks,

Morgan 

======================================

MORGAN B. WHITE
Associate Director of F&S for Sustainability

Facilities & Services | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1501 S Oak Street (MC-800) | Champaign, IL 61820
217.333.2668 | mbwhite at illinois.edu
fs.illinois.edu/services/sustainability

The response to this email concluded that the current count of green infrastructure is accurate as the list was recently updated. 

A student research team, under Dr. Yuanhui Zhang, will expand the Environment-Enhancing Energy (E2E) research program to campus application by augmenting wet food waste produced through the dining halls. They will first survey dining services food waste and make their findings available to campus affiliates. Next, they will take dining waste and convert it into biofuel and asphalt. This process will reduce UIUC’s food waste, advancing the Illinois Climate Action Plan efforts. Likewise, the project will bring awareness to food waste at a local level. In December 2017, this project received $10,000 from the Student Sustainability Committee to kickstart the project.

A student research team, under Dr. Yuanhui Zhang, will expand the Environment-Enhancing Energy (E2E) research program to campus application by augmenting wet food waste produced through the dining halls. They will first survey dining services food waste and make their findings available to campus affiliates. Next, they will take dining waste and convert it into biofuel and asphalt. This process will reduce UIUC’s food waste, advancing the Illinois Climate Action Plan efforts. Likewise, the project will bring awareness to food waste at a local level. In December 2017, this project received $10,000 from the Student Sustainability Committee to kickstart the project.

Moazam Hakim provided the following updates regarding the Air Quality Monitoring Station on July 26, 2021:

• The actual pod was received on Monday, July 26, 2021. This pod was procured from Stratford, UK.
• The next step is to get this pod installed on a lighting pole, or at another suitable location on campus.
• Over the course of the past month, the development of public interface and API for the data has been underway. After the installation of the pod, the collected data will be reported via Mobile Network, and the dashboard will be released. This dashboard will report live data, as well as provide past data and information available for download. 
• The parameters that are being monitored are PM, NO, NO2, O3, CO, CO2, Relative Humidity, and Barometric Pressure.

Avery Maloto reached out to Rabin Bhattarai requesting an update for the "Fly Ash Phosphorous Filtration" project in the iCAP portal. Rabin explained that the project ended in December of 2018, and there are no ongoing activities related to the project. 

Tony Mancuso, the Communications and Public Affairs Director, has requested updates on the progress of Professor Sinha and Professor Zhang's 2018 Campus as a Living Lab seed-funded projects for the iSEE website and the iSEE annual report.

Professor Zhang sent updates for this project per Avery Maloto's request to update the iCAP Portal. Pictures were included in the update but there was an issue determining the status of the funding. 

Please see the attached newsletter for July updates from the EPA's SmartWay program.

The following email from John Marlin describes how to remove goldenrod at the Florida & Orchard Prairie and some motivation for doing so.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John Marlin
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2021 at 1:51 PM
Subject: Perfect time to remove goldenrod at Florida Orchard
To: Illinois Master Naturalists

The big rain Saturday evening has left the soil in perfect condition for easily pulling tall goldenrod (see photo) at the Florida-Orchard prairie next to the UI president's house.  This is a great time for some independent action to get some hours.  Grasp the stem rather low (or several stems if you wish) and slowly pull straight up.  You may get lucky and also get 3 feet of rhizome.  Pulling the plants now just before they bloom weakens them greatly and prevents seed development.  You will often notice several stems in a circular pattern, get them all.  If you cannot carry plants away, toss them into the prairie individually.  If you cannot pull or bend over, just clip the stem 2 or 3 feet above ground level to weaken the plant and spur competitors.

During he past several years we have pulled many plants along the South and east edges and the first third of the center path, Concentrate on these areas and the first third of the central path.  (WE also worked on the North side -- including putting a drop of herbicide on cut stems).  This has paid off as the species diversity has improved in these areas.  We concentrate on pulling the tall goldenrod near more desirable species like Butterfly milkweed, Bee balm, Culver's root and others.  If you walk down the central path, notice how goldenrod dominates about a third of the way down.

There is parking in the UI lots at the Archives (Hort lab) off Orchard at the top of the Hill and at various times on Orchard street North of Florida.

This site along with others including Meadow Brook, Pollinatarium, Arboretum, Lincoln Ave. Residence, Red Oak rain garden, AND homeowner plantings allow bee and other pollinator populations a chance to expand and exchange genetic material.  Attached are a recent photo of the south side and an historical poster of FLOR in 2013.

MN's can get credit for this as part of the campus native plant projects. 

I sent this BCC to some people who helped in the past and may have some current interest.

John C. Marlin

I've attached a file below containing an article written by Julie Wurth detailing UIUC's Investment in Climate Solutions.