JCC Celebrates 14th Year as Tree Campus USA, Designation as Certified Wildlife Habitat

Jamestown Community College students and faculty celebrate Arbor Day, 14th Year as Tree Campus USA, and Certified Wildlife Habitat designation (May 4, 2023)

Jamestown Community College celebrated its 14th year as a Tree Campus USA by planting seven trees on its campus for Arbor Day.

Tree Campus USA is a national program that was created in 2008 to honor colleges and universities for effective campus forest management, and engaging staff and students in conservation goals. JCC received its first designation in 2009 and was the first community college in New York to achieve this designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation.

JCC Biology professor and Environmental Science Coordinator Janis Bowman was presented with the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award at the tree planting. Jamestown Parks Manager Dan Stone presented the award in recognition of Bowman’s work to get JCC designated as a Tree Campus and the work involved with keeping that designation.

Tree Campuses must plant at least one tree annually for Arbor Day; as well as create and update a tree management plan, maintain a tree committee, and a designated budget for trees and their maintenance. Student involvement through service learning projects or internships is also required.

JCC also has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Board President Becky Nystrom said the CWC has been working over the last year and a half to encourage people to create more sustainable habitats for wildlife in Chautauqua County, “It requires a certain amount of fresh water, and cover and nesting sites; and not using a lot of pesticides; and doing things more sustainably, planting more native plants to encourage all of the wildlife that depends on them.”

JCC Biology professor and Environmental Science Coordinator Janis Bowman receives the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award (May 4, 2023)

Nystrom said Chautauqua County has met nearly half of the requirements needed in order for the entire county to be certified as a National Wildlife Habitat.