The trees next to Mahar Hall have been cut down, but for good reason. Those trees have died and were becoming dangerous for the campus community.
Next to the doors of Mahar Hall looks empty without the large trees that used to sit there, now they are just trunks. However, if they were left there it would have been a risk for students and staff.
“Those particular trees, they were taken down because they were starting to get brittle,” Scott Stuart, the supervisor of grounds said. “Branches started to fall so it becomes a hazard to the public.”
This is a routine that the facilities services of Oswego State have to do when the trees on campus start to die. They take notice of which trees are dead and which trees “pose a threat to the public,” Stuart said.
After the trees are cut down, they are added to a list of trees to keep track of how many trees have been cut down, and how many more they need to plant.
“The ones that have been cut down have died. We have a campus tree map anytime trees get cut down they get replaced,” Stuart said.
The facilities services take a lot into account when they are planting new trees. They must think about the sizes of the trees, the cost of the trees and whether it is worth it to replace every tree cut down.
The facilities services does not plan to plant new trees unless they are replacements or part of a bigger initiative.
“Usually when trees get planted it’s because of a design plan,” Stuart said. “When a building or landscape gets redone.”
Oswego State has been working on a plan to renovate Hewitt Hall. In the plan for these renovations there is an intention to add much more green space to that area on campus, including new trees. However, this is a longer project that will not be implemented for a few years.
Amy Enwright is the Project Coordinator for facilities services at Oswego State and is working closely with the ideas for the Hewitt Hall renovations. These renovations will result in 60-70% less pavement in the area around Hewitt Hall, adding grass and trees, according to Enwright.
“Area is going to change from being very heavily paved … it’s going to become a lot more green space,” Enwright said.
Inside the study for these renovations, the staff working on it has specifically marked the new trees that are planned to be planted. They have labeled the new trees a different color than the trees that already exist on campus. If everything goes to plan according to the study, there will be a significant amount of new trees added in the area around Hewitt Hall.
Gemma McAfee is a biology student at Oswego State with a sustainability minor. She said she wants more trees to be planted around campus in addition to the replacement trees next to Mahar Hall.
“If the trees were dead, then it was right to cut them down. If they didn’t cut down the trees more life couldn’t grow. But they should chop down [dead] trees,” McAfee said. “It’s hard to see in the winter the plant life in Oswego, but when I think about it there aren’t many trees.”
McAfee was in a class called SUS115, Foundations of Sustainability, where one of her assignments was to garden. The garden is called the Permaculture Living Lab, located next to the Shineman Center.
On the Oswego State website, talking about the lab, it says, “This lab will function a lot like a forest, and in fact, permaculture techniques are often used to create ‘edible forest landscapes.’”
This lab is still in progress, and the students go in and garden when they are assigned to, weather permitting. McAfee said during gardening they pull weeds, put down mulch and clear pathways.
The trees that were cut down next to Mahar Hall were for the safety of the campus, according to Stuart. But they will be replaced, in addition to the environmental projects that are in the works from multiple departments to make the campus more green.
Photo by William Rogers | The Oswegonian
