 |
 |
 |
faculty students alumni courses major/minor requirements internships study abroad newsletters/journals
Environmental Studies Department |
|
LandscapingAppendix 1April 17, 2002, Interview with Jerry Nelson for the Macalester Environmental Audit
Interviewer: Basically the environmental audit is something that has been done for the past few years and there hasn't been a grounds keeping audit since 2000, so we wanted to do another one this year to see if anything has changed in the past two years on campus as far as that stuff goes. Is there a mission statement at all for the grounds keeping department? An official policy of the goals? Jerry Nelson: We have a brief mission statement which just basically says we try to keep the campus safe and clean and that’s about it. I’d have to dig it out to see exactly what it says but its to maintain a safe and welcome environment for the students, faculty, and staff. I: I think there’s something like that on the website, so it’s the same as the one for physical plant? J: We’ve got one probably a little more specific for grounds. I: Ok. I was wondering if you keep updated vegetation maps at all of what’s planted on campus—the trees and the beds? J: Ah, pretty much to the best of our knowledge we have a lot of stuff. We don’t have everything that’s old, and stuff gets changed around, but pretty much we have—we know pretty much what everything is. We keep all the plans that they plant from each building when they remodel. We have those. I: And then, I was wondering what kinds of chemicals get used in pest management and fertilization on campus—flower beds or the lawn. J: Um, we try to run an IPM program that minimizes any kind of chemicals that we use and we don’t use a lot. We spray for broadleaf weeds probably once a year, and we don’t do all areas, but where it’s needed. And then we hire that out—we don’t do that ourselves. we have, we use Roundup for some of the weeds in the cracks in the sidewalks and in some of the beds, stuff like that. Not a lot of other stuff. Once and a while we might use an insecticide out if we have a specific problem on a certain tree or shrub or something. It’s very minimal. I: Ok, so is it just an as-need thing? Is there an official protocol anywhere that governs chemical use on campus? J: No, I don’t think so. it’s pretty much as-needed. Very little preventative. Usually we just react to stuff. We do put a little fungicide on the field if we get a hot, wet summer if we think we need it. I: On Shaw Field? J: On the football field. I: I was wondering also if you always buy the chemicals from the same place? Where do you purchase the chemicals? J: Different places. It depends on who has them. Mostly from a seed company or something. I: Ok, so there’s not a steady supplier? J: No. I: Approximately how often does the sprinkler system get used in the average summer? J: Which one? We just installed a new one in the center of campus and we’re probably looking at twice a week. it depends on weather of course. I: And then is there a separate system for the football field? J: Separate field for Shaw Field, and separate irrigation system for the baseball, and then the football. I: Do those get used approximately as often as the other one? J: I would say no, Shaw Field is probably, maybe, twice a week. The game fields maybe four times a week. I: What time of day does that usually get done? J: Very early in the morning. I like to water like three in the morning to eight in the morning, nine. That’s the ideal time. I: Also, about how often do the lawns get mowed? Either the fields or the central campus area. J: Central campus probably one a week, the fields probably three times a week. I: Do you know how high the blade is on the mower? J: About two and a half inches. I: I notice there are a lot of flower beds on campus that get rotated with annuals. About how often do those get changed? Obviously in the winter they are empty, but once they get planted in the spring how often to those get changed until the fall? J: Well, there’s two main flower beds: one by the flag pole and one by the Campus Center. We’ll plant annuals in the spring and change them over to mums in the fall. After the mums we’ll plant bulbs for early spring. Those are the only two that have a rotation like that. I’m not sure about Kagin up there, the new building. For now those are the only two. The others are just annuals. I: All the pots in front of buildings—is that also taken care of by the groundskeeping crew? J: Yup, we just plant annuals in them. The ones by Weyerhauser we put pansies in for early spring, just for a little color. I: Those are my favorites. J: And then we’ll change them to annuals, and we put evergreen branches in them for winter. Some of them. I: I have a list of questions that were asked last time just to see if they are all still the same: you did say Macalester uses some integrated pest management already right? J: Yeah. I: Do you try to use the least toxic chemicals when available? J: yeah, we don’t…we try not to spray any restricted-use chemicals, and we do what the job needs to get it done. I: Has Macalester re-naturalized any areas of campus at all? J: 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. I: So you don’t utilize a lot of native plants as a rule. J: Oh yeah, they’re around. I: Do we ask for them specifically when doing landscaping? J: No. We get them once a while just because they fit into something. I: Do you use pest-resistant plants? J: Try to. I: Do you request disease and pest-resistant plants from architects when putting in new buildings and things like that? J: Yeah, he’s aware of it. He knows. I: Does Macalester replant trees after construction? J: Yup. I: Does it replace trees that are cleared for development? J: Yeah, we’re planting trees all the time. We don’t take too many down for development. Once and a while, like the Campus Center, they took some down. And they’re planting new ones. I: Does Macalester utilize long-lived trees over short lived trees, or is it more of a mix? J: It’s a mix. We try to get a mix. I: Are there any designated natural areas on campus? That kind of goes back to the re-naturalized question. J: No, not really. I: How often do you water the plantings in the beds? J: That varies with each bed. Some need more than others. Some we don’t water at all. Tough question. I: Does Macalester recycle the water it uses for watering plantings? J: No. I: Do you maintain maps and data about planting and keep it up to date? J: We do, yeah. On some of the stuff we know what it is and stuff. We don’t keep a research record on how this is doing and how much it has grown and stuff like that. I: Do student employees work with grounds keeping? J: Yeah. I: Are there an official record, policy, goals kind of thing that’s given to new employees at all, or are things explained on an as-need basis? J: Well, we just give them a basic training. A video and then a walk around and stuff like that. there’s nothing specific other than that. I: I was wondering if grounds keeping ever works with MULCH, the student group that does the garden? J: Oh, we borrow them some tools now and then. we’ll go in and clean up the weeds once and a while. Are you involved with that? I: Not too much directly although I try when I have a little extra time. I know they try to do the garden, so I was wondering if there were ever any joint projects between grounds keeping and MULCH. J: No. They’ve pretty much got their little vegetable garden there and are trying to get it developed. I: Ok. Is there any type of composting on campus or reused clippings? Anything like that? J: We have a pile over by the stadium where we throw all the old dirt from pots and if we dig a hole for a tree or something we’ll throw the dirt in there, try to reuse it. Otherwise we got a twenty yard roll off over there we put all the compost brush, leaves, stuff like that. Then they haul it to the compost site. I: Where is the compost site? J: the big one is down in Inver Grove Heights. they might have a site not to far up on University Ave. where they take it and then they haul it somewhere else too, so it’s recycled. I: So it’s everywhere. J: Yeah. We don’t have a specific site that we compost up and let it rot down to reuse. We don’t have the space. I: Ok. I think that’s it for my specific questions. Do you know of anything else that has changed significantly as far as grounds keeping goes in the past two years? J: No, not really. We’re pretty much doing the same thing. I: Pretty consistent? J: Yeah. I: Then that’s about all I have. J: We try to do what we can for the environment. Try not to waste chemicals and stuff like that. I: Well, that you very much for meeting with me. J: Good luck with your project. |
|
|