Allegany College of Maryland earned the national designation of Tree Campus USA from the Arbor Day Foundation in 2013. ACM is one of only five colleges in Maryland that have been awarded this status and it is the first two-year college to do so in our state. Allegany County’s other institution of higher learning, Frostburg State University, also earned this designation in 2012.
This distinction means that Allegany College has met the Arbor Day Foundation’s five standards. These standards include forming a Campus Tree Advisory Committee, developing a campus tree care plan, dedicating annual expenditures to needed tree management, keeping Arbor Day observances, and implementing a service learning project.
ACM has held Arbor Day observances for many years. Its first celebration was marked by the dedication of an arboretum that was established in a large, wooded section of the 300 acre campus. This year’s celebration, held on April 22, 2015, featured the planting of 100 trees on campus with the help of staff, students and community members.
The forestry program at ACM has had a long history of helping with community projects to offer real-world experiences to their students. ACM has been educating forestry professionals for more than 40 years through its forestry technology program, and students have applied their practical skills on campus and elsewhere.
ACM staff, faculty, and students as well as various community members have come together and worked hard to make this Tree Campus USA designation a reality. According to ACM president, Dr. Cynthia Bambara, “the Tree Campus USA designation allows ACM to set an example for other community colleges while providing valuable opportunities for our students to learn about environmental stewardship.” In addition, the college’s Tree Campus USA program reinforces Cumberland’s inclusion in the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA program and its efforts to increase urban tree canopy.
