Start Date
2023
Description
Since university campuses serve as important education and public gathering centers for the cities and towns in which they reside, it is critical to maintain pleasing aesthetics that are cost effective while also promoting sustainability and biodiversity enhancement. On Calvin’s campus, many sites, including garden beds, restored woodlots, and even a dune provide these services. Native plants have continually been added to various locations around campus in place of lawn grass, with the goal of benefitting pollinators and birds along with creating natural sponges for stormwater runoff coming from parking lots and building roofs. These spaces also sequester carbon and replace lawn which must be mowed by the grounds crew, saving time and lessening fossil fuel emissions from mowers. The benefits from these areas are clear, but they must also be balanced with the interests of those who like more open, manicured landscapes, and they must be frequently weeded to maintain the native plants present.
Recommended Citation
Warners, David and Hofmann, William, "Native Plant Restoration on Calvin’s Campus and an Introduction to the Calvin Biodiversity Project" (2023). Summer Research. 22.
https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/summer_research/2023/Posters/22
Included in
Native Plant Restoration on Calvin’s Campus and an Introduction to the Calvin Biodiversity Project
Since university campuses serve as important education and public gathering centers for the cities and towns in which they reside, it is critical to maintain pleasing aesthetics that are cost effective while also promoting sustainability and biodiversity enhancement. On Calvin’s campus, many sites, including garden beds, restored woodlots, and even a dune provide these services. Native plants have continually been added to various locations around campus in place of lawn grass, with the goal of benefitting pollinators and birds along with creating natural sponges for stormwater runoff coming from parking lots and building roofs. These spaces also sequester carbon and replace lawn which must be mowed by the grounds crew, saving time and lessening fossil fuel emissions from mowers. The benefits from these areas are clear, but they must also be balanced with the interests of those who like more open, manicured landscapes, and they must be frequently weeded to maintain the native plants present.