Keeley Sheehan
Managing Editor
Student and community organizations came together to add a little more green to the USF St. Petersburg campus on Oct. 10.
Ten groups sponsored 10 new trees that were planted in the areas behind Davis Hall and the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library.
The trees were planted earlier in the week, and the Student Environmental Awareness Society hosted a dedication ceremony on Oct. 10 to recognize the organizations that donated time and money to bring the new trees to campus.
The group had a lot of volunteers help with the planting, according to Stephanie Lawlar, president of SEAS.
“We had a lot of people coming out of the woodwork [to help],” she said.
SEAS got the idea from the 350.org 10/10/10 Global Work Party initiative. 350.org is an “international campaign that’s building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis,” according to the group’s website.
SEAS used ideas from the website to come up with its own 10/10/10 activities, including the tree planting.
SEAS worked with the university to bring native trees to campus. The trees had to meet certain requirements, and not interfere with signs on buildings or underground piping, or future plans for development. The university and maintenance staff was supportive of the project and in helping them to comply with the requirements, Lawler said.
Organizations that sponsored trees included SEAS, the Botanical Club, the Garden Club, Student Government, the Sierra Club, Solar Source, Repower America, a student chapter of the National Association of Environmental Professionals, the Florida Defenders of Wildlife, and 1Sky, which advocates for government action on climate change.
Laurie Macdonald, Florida director of Defenders of Wildlife, said that students from the university often work as interns with her organization, which works to protect wildlife and endangered animals.
“It’s very important that younger people are aware and active,” she said.
SG also covered the cost of transporting the trees to campus.
The events were an important collaboration between campus clubs and the community, according to Jon Ellington, SG vice president.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to show students how passionate we are, and the clubs are, about this,” Ellington said.
The trees were picked specifically because they are native to the area, with special considerations for tolerance to things like salt and sunlight, according to Kira Barrera, community outreach coordinator for SEAS.
After the dedication ceremony, attendees rode bicycles to Little Bayou Park in South St. Petersburg to participate in a work party. They cleaned up the park, removed invasive exotic plants to make room for native plants, and had a tree give-away. The Urban Gypsies provided music and Trek Bicycle offered free bicycle tune-ups.
In addition to planting the trees, SEAS also planted native foliage in the beach area behind Davis Hall, as part of an ongoing effort started on Earth Day. They planted things like beach elders, sunflowers and morning glories in the area.
They plan to continue working on it as they see which plants work best, and hope to add chairs later so students can enjoy the area.
“We want to show the school that it can be beautiful,” Lawler said.
