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Environmental Studies Department
Olin Rice 249
1600 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
651-696-6274
Comments & questions to:
esson@macalester.edu

Landscaping

By Anna Payden
May 2002

Introduction

This section of the Environmental Audit focuses on the landscaping and land management practices of Macalester College.  The last landscaping audit was conducted in the year 2000.  The information in this 2002 audit was obtained primarily from Jerry Nelson, head of the Grounds Department of Physical Plant, and was conducted to determine what, if any, changes have been made in the land management practices of the college since 2000.

Very simply, we found no significant changes in the landscaping and grounds keeping practices at Macalester over the past two years.  Questions focused largely on planting trends, watering and mowing practices, use of chemicals for pest and weed control, and official grounds keeping records and protocol.  The entire transcribed interview with Jerry Nelson can be found in Landscaping appendix 1, and the questions directed to and responses from Daniel Ungier of the Macalester Urban Land and Community Health (MULCH) student group can be found in Landscaping appendix 2.

Policies, Records, and Protocol

When asked about a mission statement for the Grounds Department, Jerry Nelson replied, "we have a brief mission statement which just basically says we try to keep the campus safe and clean and that’s about it."  According to Nelson, the Grounds Dept. tries to keep the campus safe and welcoming for faculty, staff, and students.  On their official website, Physical Plant's stated goal is: "To provide a campus that is safe and comfortable with well maintained buildings and grounds.  We recognize that the campus must be well maintained so that students may live and learn effectively, the faculty teach energetically and the staff work efficiently."  Although in 2000 environmental health was specifically mentioned by Nelson when asked about a mission statement, it was absent this particular time.  However, later in the interview Nelson did say that Grounds tries to "do what it can for the environment" by not wasting chemicals and such practices.  We would like to see the environment specifically addressed in the mission statement of Grounds and Physical Plant, as environmental health is key in maintaining a safe campus.

Beyond the mission statement there seemed to be a lack of official written protocol for the Grounds Dept..  Student employees watch a short video and receive a walking tour during their orientation, but there is not a list of acceptable practices or official guidelines according to Nelson.  This seems problematic as it leaves more room for inconsistencies and loopholes.

We also asked Nelson about the existence of vegetation maps for the plantings on campus.  He replied that they keep the maps that are done with buildings are built or remodeled and landscaped, and Grounds workers have a pretty good idea of what types of plants are where on campus, but beyond that there is no map that is consistently maintained of Macalester's vegetation.

Chemical Practices

In general, Macalester does not rely on heavy chemical use for lawn maintenance.  The only consistent use of chemicals is an annual spraying for broadleaf weeds.  An outside company is hired for this particular job--Physical Plant workers do not do it.  The specific types of chemicals used in this spraying procedure are not known.

Beyond the once per year spraying, all chemicals used by Macalester are on an as-need basis and are reactionary rather than preventative according to Nelson.  According to Nelson, Macalester uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which he defines as using chemicals only when necessary.  As stated by the 2000 landscaping audit, this is not a complete definition of IPM, as it also usually includes biological and cultural control of pests, which the Macalester plan does not address.  Roundup is generally used for localized weed problems in the flower beds or cracks in the sidewalks, and insecticide is used for specific problems on specific trees.  The football field receives an occasional fungicide application if the summer is particularly hot and wet.  There is not consistent supplier of chemicals.  Rather, they are bought as needed from a number of places; "it depends who has them" states Nelson.  No names of specific chemicals other than Roundup were mentioned.  When asked if Macalester uses the least toxic chemicals possible, Nelson replied, "we try not to spray any restricted-use chemicals, and we do what the job needs to get it done."  We appreciate that Macalester does not engage in a more extensive use of chemicals to maintain its lawns and gardens, but we believe it would be helpful to maintain a complete list of chemicals used.

Planting Trends

As stated above, there are no consistently maintained vegetation maps of the campus.  There are two major flower beds on campus maintained by the Grounds Department: one in front of the Campus Center and one around the flagpole.  Beyond this are the large flowerpots in front of the buildings and the area around Old Main, although Nelson did not address that area. We inquired about the rotation of plants in these beds, and Nelson informed us there are three growing periods in the beds:  early spring, late spring and summer, and fall.  During the spring and summer, the beds are planted with annuals of an undetermined variety.  Mums replace these during the fall and the mums are followed by bulbs that grow in early spring.  The flowerpots such as those in front of Weyerhaeuser are planted with pansies in the spring "for some color" and then replaced with other annuals later in the spring/summer.  During the winter, these pots are sometimes filled with evergreen branches.

For non-bed plantings, Nelson stated that Macalester tries to use disease and pest resistant varieties when possible, which helps decrease the need for chemicals.  No areas on campus have been "renaturalized", and when asked whether Macalester uses native plants, Nelson replied, "no, not really.  We’ve got some wildflowers down here you know.  Some perennials.  That’s about it.  No prairie grass or natural Minnesota stuff."  However, when we tried to confirm that Macalester does not, then, use native plants as a rule, Nelson altered his statement and replied, " Oh yeah, they’re around…. We get them once a while just because they fit into something."  We can only conclude that native plants occasionally happen to work well in landscape designs but are not specifically requested.  We suggest that in the future Macalester might try to specifically request more native plants be used in its landscaping.

We also inquired about the tree planting practices of Macalester, which are encouraging.  Macalester tries to replant trees after construction or development projects as often as possible according to Nelson, and a combination of long and short-lived varieties are used, increasing the vegetation diversity.

Macalester does try to reuse soil removed during tree plantings and keeps a pile near the stadium.  There is no site for composting on campus, but Macalester does sent its brush and other dead plant material to be composted elsewhere.

Watering and Mowing

Macalester has four separate irrigation systems on campus:  one for the lawn area outside the Campus Center, one for Shaw Field, one for the baseball field, and one on the football field.  The sports fields are watered approximately twice as often as the central campus lawn and Shaw Field.  According to Nelson, Macalester recently installed a new irrigation system for the central campus and he estimates it will be used approximately twice a week in the summer, as will the system for Shaw Field.  The football field and the baseball field are watered closer to four times per week.   Watering is typically done very early in the morning, between 3:00am and 9:00am.  This seems to be an extensive amount of watering for the center of campus during the average summer, especially considering there are fewer students using the lawn at that time of year.  We cannot help but wonder whether once per week would be sufficient, considering that it also rains at times.  The sports fields are a bit trickier.  Not knowing all the regulations and such for baseball and football turf, we find it difficult to make recommendations in this area.  Plantings in the beds are generally watered on an as-need basis.

The blade of Macalester's lawn mower(s) is set at approximately two and a half inches.  The central campus lawn is mowed approximately once per week, as is Shaw Field.  The football and baseball fields are mowed three times per week.  We hypothesize that cutting down the central campus watering to once per week may slightly decrease the number of times the lawn needs to be mowed.

Comparative Responses

The following table contains questions asked of Jerry Nelson in the 2000 audit, how he answered then, and how he answered in 2002:

The only significant difference was the question regarding renaturalized areas on campus; in 2000, an area southwest of Olin-Rice was mentioned, but it was not discussed during the 2002 audit interview.

MULCH

As an addition to the landscaping audit, this year several questions regarding the student group Macalester Urban Land and Community Health (MULCH) were added to the interview with Jerry Nelson.  MULCH currently maintains a garden on the west side of the Field House has sponsored trips to various local workshops dealing with urban land use and community gardening.  According to Nelson, there has not been much collaboration between MULCH and Physical Plant beyond the loaning of tools and occasional weeding.  Following the interview, several question were addressed to the current MULCH organizer, Daniel Ungier, regarding views of Macalester's landscaping and possibilities of MULCH-Grounds collaborative work.  Like Nelson, Ungier said that the cooperation has up to this point been minimal and that MULCH has previously felt some antagonism between itself and Physical Plant due to use of space and requests for a compost pile, however the situation seems to be improving.  Ungier indicated MULCH would respond favorably to further cooperation with Grounds such as increasing the use of native planting on campus and other sustainable land use projects.  We would suggest further dialogue between the Grounds Department and MULCH, as this student group might be very willing to engage in either landscape assistance or creative planning.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this year's landscaping audit is not significantly different from that in 2000.  Macalester does not appear to engage in excessive and dangerous pesticide use, as most of its measures are reactionary rather than preventative.  Several measures that can be taken to further decrease chemical use on campus were listed in the 2000 audit, and we suggest that Physical Plant take a these methods under serious consideration.

We would suggest decreasing the number of times per week the central campus area is watered and mowed in the interest of saving water and energy.  The increased use of native plantings would also be beneficial, as they may need fewer chemical inputs to thrive, having evolved in this area.  They might also be used as an educational tool.

We feel that increasing record keeping and developing an official list of policies for the Grounds Department would be beneficial for training new workers, avoiding loopholes and inconsistencies, and assisting future research into college practices.  It can be difficult to pinpoint necessary changes without an official protocol or list of current practices.

Overall, as in 2000, there do not seem to be any glaring problems with Macalester's landscaping and grounds management although small improvements would be beneficial.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2  

Macalester College · 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105  USA · 651-696-6000
Comments and questions to esson@macalester.edu