Campus Tree Map
The University of Mary Washington hosts a diverse array of trees on its campus. These trees serve as a one-of-a-kind green space that sets Mary Washington’s campus apart from many others in the state. From the total sample of trees that Mary Washington has to offer, we sought out to use a stratified sampling method to generate a tour of our most unique campus trees.
Our goal for this tour is to give our community a tree-walk that focused on just how diverse our trees on campus are without straying too far away from accessible paths for a truly equitable experience. From this collection we hope that students, faculty, and the community may come out and enjoy all that our trees have to offer, and perhaps learn a few fun facts while you’re at it!
Why does it matter?
Increasingly, true treescapes are becoming harder and harder to find in our ever-developing world. This lack of green space and tree cover are resulting in rising temperatures that form urban heat islands. Beyond their beauty, campuses such as ours take great pride in the work our trees do to combat this crisis. In two recent studies over the Summer of 2022, two Mary Washington students (Ava Spencer and Sara Kerner) were able to see our trees at work in their findings.
“This summer I mapped all of the trees in the city of Fredericksburg to evaluate urban heat and vulnerability across census block groups and neighborhoods. I found that UMW had some of the highest tree densities in any of the actual living communities which comes as no surprise as our campus is beautifully green! Trees are critically important for regulating heat in areas that people are living in! Because they help regulate temperatures, they’re important factors in issues such as health and safety amongst the people living there. Often, I think trees are taken for granted but when we evaluated certain heat related health issues this summer, we found a fairly strong pattern of worsened health in less treed areas, with our campus scoring well in terms of urban heat vulnerability!” – Ava Spencer; Class of 2023
“In my urban heat study with Friends of the Rappahannock and the George Washington Regional Commission, I found that areas with a high concentration of developed and impervious surfaces had a very high temperature compared to the forested land covers. Increasing green spaces and tree coverage, like with UMW’s Tree Campus, is important when creating a cool, healthy, and relaxing environment for students and community members to enjoy. Trees and other vegetation help reduce, filter, and cool off stormwater runoff which increases the water quality of nearby streams and rivers. Also, Vegetative land cover increases the air quality by sequestering carbon dioxide. I believe that prioritizing green spaces and tree canopies are valuable for planning out campuses and communities. Urban heat islands are a phenomenon that is impacting many, and tree canopies can help reduce their high heat effects along with the health issues associated with it.” – Sarah Kerner; Class of 2022