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Olin Rice 249
1600 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
651-696-6274
Comments & questions to:
esson@macalester.edu
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Landscaping
Appendix 2
Questions Given to Daniel Ungier of MULCH
- Jerry Nelson said there is little collaboration between grounds keeping and MULCH other than tool-borrowing and occasional weeding. Are there any projects MULCH has undertaken in conjunction with physical plant to your knowledge?
- Are there any projects that MULCH would possibly like to engage in with physical plant in the future?
- How willing might MULCH be to work with physical plant on issues of landscaping for the campus in general?
- Does MULCH have any ideas regarding the landscaping or grounds keeping at Macalester?
Response by Daniel Ungier:
A lot of these issues have not come up previously because in the past, MULCH has had some troubles with Physical Plant, because we do our own landscaping in the garden, and of course, Physical Plant likes to be in charge of that. So they're sometimes a bit wary of our projects - in particular, they are not at all fans of us approaching them about having a compost pile.
Relations have improved since last year, when Physical Plant was generous enough to donate some bricks for the terraces you see on the north end of the garden right now, as well as some other supplies for upkeep. This summer, they have a paid work study position, 10 hours a week, for garden maintenance. I think that out of this, we certainly hope that there can be more collaboration and sharing between the two of us in the future.
MULCH would definitely be interested in helping Physical Plant convert more land to native grasses, garden space, etc, perhaps even involve ourselves in landscaping projects, to the extent that it is related to our garden/sustainable urban lands focus. We haven't spoken specifically on Physical Plant's grounds keeping projects, focusing mostly on our garden space. But I think certainly we would like to see more areas converted to native species as opposed to cycling in flowers, etc. I think the idea for [Physical Plant] collaboration is a good one; its just that in the past, they have gained a reputation over the years as being a thorn, mostly because of the compost issue….At this point, I am hoping that the new work study position will provide an opportunity to increase relations and improve both of our projects -- I think its a great idea.
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