MONACA, PA. — Penn State Beaver joined the Commonwealth Arboreta Network as Bartlett Tree Experts recently mapped campus trees as part of an ongoing initiative across all Commonwealth Campuses.
The Commonwealth Arboreta Network (CAN) initiative, which began in 2023, fulfills the University’s land-grant mission through education, research and community collaborations.
The CAN mapped seven campuses by 2024 and are adding eight additional campuses this August.
“Our goal is to have trees present in landscapes on every Penn State property mapped in GIS/GPS by the end of 2026,” said Casey Sclar, CAN director. Sclar is also the H.O. Smith endowed director of the Arboretum at Penn State.
Future arboretum accreditation — through ArbNet, an interactive, collaborative, international community of arboreta and tree-focused professionals — of mapped Penn State campuses and more was initially made possible by the James and Barbara Ingram Endowment for the Penn State Arboreta. James Ingram, president and chief operating officer of Bartlett Tree Experts, earned an associate degree in forest technology from Penn State Mont Alto in 1979 and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at University Park in 1983. Bartlett Tree Experts provides the labor, mapping expertise and software needed for the project at no cost to Penn State, with over $200,000 of in-kind support for the project provided to date.
Trees on the campus are numbered and tagged allowing experts to create highly accurate database inventories of Penn State’s tree collections. Part of that process involves measuring the circumference of the trunk, the height of the tree, as well as assessing the tree’s overall health.
One tree at Beaver that stood out to the experts is a large American elm near the Laboratory Classroom Building.
Eric Hinzman, a consulting advisor for Bartlett, said American elm trees are rare after Dutch elm disease wiped out most of the trees in the United States. He said elm hybrids exist, but not many American elms. Hinzman said the tree at Beaver is in very good condition, and it is apparent it has been well-cared for by the campus grounds staff.
The mapping project at Beaver also involved Autumn Sabo, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State Beaver, who Sclar said is an important part of the conversations and knowledge that unite the Commonwealth Campuses and ensure learning and research objectives are achieved.
“It’s a really cool initiative that begins with our trees and honors all our campuses,” Sclar said. “Once the trees are mapped, we gain an in-depth knowledge of what tree species are most and least abundant, and so much more information … We’ll soon be the only land-grant University with a single database and mapping search resource that allows us to study Penn State’s trees, transforming how we do research and service.”
Sclar said they also involve Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant facilities, grounds and design staff so they know what trees need to be conserved and preserved. This also impacts trees chosen for future plantings that meet biodiversity and climate goals.
“The Commonwealth Aboreta Network offers smaller campuses like Penn State Beaver the opportunity build upon our existing sustainability efforts like our turf to meadow project and the Reforest Our Future initiatives with university wide expertise and resources,” said Carey McDougall, regional chancellor of Penn State Beaver and Penn State Shenango. “The current initiative to update our tree inventory, together with the strength of the county extension office on campus, as well as Dr. Sabo’s course work using our campus trees as living labs, is further evidence of the effectiveness of working across units to bring advances in sustainability not only to the campus but the greater community.”