University of Mississippi, Arbor Day 2022
A Landscaping Services’ Tree-Campus Event
Tuesday, April 19th, 11:00-12:00 PM @ the UM Law Center Stormwater Detention Basin
Superintendent of UM Landscaping Services, Nathan Lazinsky, facilitating Arbor Day education
While we recognize Arbor Day with a Landscaping Services’ Tree-Planting event every Green Week, this year’s Arbor Day celebration holds a unique opportunity that we are especially excited about. For Arbor Day 2022, Landscaping Services will be partnering with the UM Green Fund Bio-infiltration Project, advised by Dr. Cris Surbeck from the School of Engineering, by planting cypress tree seedlings in one of the stormwater detention basins on campus. The cypress trees planted during this year’s Arbor Day celebration will reduce the amount of stormwater that collects in the detention basin, improve the overall quality of collected stormwater, and add some natural beauty to the UM Law Center. This year’s Arbor Day tree planting event will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday, April 19th, near the UM Law Center.
Since 2013 Landscaping Services has sponsored our campus’s annual Arbor Day event in accordance with the National Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus Higher Education certification.
How To Participate
All campus and community members are welcome to participate! We will gather in the UM Law Center parking lot at 11:00 AM on April, 19th for a brief presentation on the UM Green Fund Bio-infiltration Project and the significance of Arbor Day for the University of Mississippi campus. Then we will make our way to the UM Law Center Stormwater Detention Basin, located at the corner of West Road and Chucky Mullins Drive, to plant 5 cypress trees into pre-dug holes (Thank you, Landscaping Services!) with the assistance of volunteers from the crowd. The event will end at 12:00 PM. Please see the map below for a reference of the event location:
Map of Arbor Day Event Location: Green Box indicates where the event will begin and where you can park if permitted. The yellow star indicates where the tree planting will take place (at the corner of West Road and Chucky Mullins Drive).
If you are an instructor who plans to encourage or require the attendance of your students at the Arbor Day celebration, please contact our Green Week Coordinator, Sarah Ferguson (smfergu1@go.olemiss.edu), about getting involved and logging event attendance. If you have any questions regarding parking or you need a ride to the event, please contact our Project Manager, Kathryn Kidd (krkidd@olemiss.edu), by April 18th.
About the UM Green Fund Bio-Infiltration Project
As of early August, the installation of the Bio-infiltration Project began. This project is installed in the detention basin (surface storage basins that provide flow control through attenuation of stormwater runoff) between West Road and Chucky Mullins Drive, with the UM Law School being the closest building to the project. The project was originally proposed to the UM Green Fund by engineering student Benjamin Koltai under the advisement of Dr. Cris Surbeck from the School of Engineering. This project involves a wide variety of partners between the Office of Sustainability, Facilities Planning, Facilities Management, Landscape Services, the UM Green Fund, and the School of Engineering.
The project will utilize green infrastructure and ecological principles to better manage both the flow rate and quality of stormwater runoff from impermeable surfaces in this area of campus. Phase 1 of this project was to install six dry wells that allow for the gradual percolation of excess stormwater into the ground. Phase 1 was completed in the Summer of 2021. Phase 2 of this project is to plant a grove of bald cypress in the detention pond area. The cypress trees will offer additional water uptake as well as ecosystem benefits and pollutant filtration.
The Green Fund was established in 2013 and has since awarded more than $58,000 of funding to 22 projects. The UM Green Fund was created to support innovative sustainability projects on the Ole Miss campus, such as Benjamin Koltai’s stormwater project. Other past projects include the establishment of the UM Compost Program, the installation of hydration stations, and energy conservation projects in RC South and the J.D. Williams Library. All faculty, staff, and students are eligible to propose a project. To learn more about the Green Fund and how to propose a project, visit our UM Green Fund Page.