Tennessee Tech is collaborating with a consultant on a landscaping master plan, focusing on planting trees and growing the tree canopy.
Consultant Robert Waits said the University wants to improve the feel and look of the campus, planting trees to hit targeted points through campus. Waits said the project will take place over 10 to 20 years, planting 170 to 200 trees per year. Waits said they plant the trees in a specific order and time, as some areas take priority over others. Waits said a variety of trees will be planted, the majority native to the state.
“So this is really cool, we’re actually setting target goals of percentages of trees that go on campus,” Waits said. “So, if we were to plant 100 trees, we’re requiring 65 percent of those trees to be a native variety.”
Waits said the master plan was a logical next step for the University, as University officials have improved pedestrian spaces and constructed buildings. Waits said the plan helps the University further respect the landscape, assuring the campus remains in good health long-term.
“Taking that vision that they’ve had for the next 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, and making sure the landscape is included in those spaces,” Waits said.
Waits said the plan includes planting larger, canopy trees in the area. Waits said the team is looking for state hardwood trees for the majority of the trees.
“We want to make sure we still allow for different varieties to be brought on to campus so the so the students can encapsulate that,” Waits said. “But we do want to get back to a native, a big percentage of native trees.”
Waits said they have made significant areas of campus and areas impacted by capital projects primary targets for planting trees. Waits said the consulting group and the University discerned which locations on campus where most special and descriptive of the University during the inventory process.
“The Foster Hall site is a really important area of campus near the University center,” Waits said. “And we’ve done some concept sketches that show that it looks like a band shell but it’s really a focal point.”
Waits said they are planting larger trees like oaks, poplars and hickories, as they last longer and grow taller.
Waits said an investment in these trees benefits the University years down the road, which can be as long as 60 years later.
“Over the last 15, 20 years, we’ve gotten away from planting those varieties on campus,” Waits said. “So we wanted to kind of move back and make sure for the long term of the campus growth that we make sure that all those varieties are still here and still populated, you know, 1,600 years down the road.”
Robert Waits is the founder of Studio Topography, a Nashville-based company specializing in landscape architecture.