The Arbor Day Foundation today honored Georgia Tech as a 2009 Tree Campus USA University for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship.

This is the second consecutive year Georgia Tech has been named a Tree Campus USA University.

“The Tree Campus USA program will have a long-lasting impact at Georgia Tech as it engages college students and local citizens to plant trees and create healthier communities for people to enjoy for decades to come,” said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “The school will benefit from exceptional tree-care practices on campus as it works with tree-care professionals in the community to improve the tree canopy in Atlanta.”

Tree Campus USA, a national program launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation, honors college and universities and the leaders of the campus and surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Tree Campus USA is supported by a grant from Toyota.

Georgia Tech met the required five core standards of tree care and community engagement in order to receive Tree Campus USA status. Those standards are establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.

The Arbor Day Foundation launched Tree Campus USA in the fall of 2008 by planting trees at nine college campuses throughout the United States. More information about the Tree Campus USA program is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.