Number of Tree Campus USA Colleges and Universities More Than Doubles In Year Two of Arbor Day Foundation Program

03/04/10
Nebraska City, Neb. (March 4, 2010) – The Arbor Day Foundation honored 74 colleges and universities with Tree Campus USA recognition in 2009, more than doubling the total from the inaugural class.

Tree Campus USA is a national program launched by the Arbor Day Foundation in 2008 and is modeled after the Foundation's successful Tree City USA program. Tree Campus USA aims to honor colleges and universities that use best tree-care and sustainability practices and engage students in tree-planting and conservation initiatives. The Tree Campus USA program is supported by a generous grant from Toyota.

"It is exciting to see the number of colleges and universities that earned Tree Campus USA recognition more than double in size in just the second year," said John Rosenow, founder and chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "It is equally exciting to see these institutions of higher learning increase their commitment to protect, care for and add to their campus forest. The work they are doing is important on so many levels and will have a positive impact on the environment and health of a community for years to come."

Twenty-nine colleges and universities that earned Tree Campus USA status in the program's inaugural year also earned recognition in 2009. They were: Albany Technical College; Arizona State; California State University, Fresno; Creighton; Duke; Furman; Georgia Tech; Gwinnett Technical College; Illinois State; Indiana State; Indiana University Bloomington; Jackson State; Kent State; Macon State; Nebraska Wesleyan; Northern Kentucky; Northland College; Oregon State; Southeastern Community College; California, Davis; California, San Diego; Maryland; Miami; Michigan; Nebraska-Lincoln; North Texas; South Carolina Upstate; Texas, Austin; Virginia Tech; Western Michigan.

Schools that earned Tree Campus USA recognition for the first time in 2009 were: Alamance Community College; American University; Auburn; Bard College; Berea College; Cazenovia College; Central Community College-Hastings; Central Florida Community College; Chicago State; Cleveland State Community College; Columbia Basin College; Cornell; Emory; Florida Gulf Coast; Florida International; High Point University; Illinois College; Jamestown Community College; Kent State at Stark; Lewis University; Louisiana State at Alexandria; Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia; Moraine Valley Community College; Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture; Northern Oklahoma; Northwestern State of Louisiana; Ohio Northern; South Dakota State; Tarrant County College SE; Tulane; Alaska Anchorage; Arizona; Arkansas Fort Smith; Iowa; North Carolina Greensboro; the University of Pennsylvania; University of Redlands; South Carolina; Washington; Valley Forge Christian College; Vincennes University; Western State College of Colorado; and Youngstown State.

To be eligible for Tree Campus USA recognition, schools must meet five core standards of tree care and community engagement: Establish a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree-care plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body in sustainable efforts.

Tree Campus USA creates opportunities for college campuses to work with the greater community through tree-care management practices. The program also provides a hands-on way for students to care for their local environment through tree-related events.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota launched the Tree Campus USA program in the fall of 2008 by planting nearly 1,000 trees at nine college campuses throughout the nation. This year, the Foundation and Toyota is teaming up to plant nearly 1,000 trees on 10 campuses throughout the nation to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the program.

More information about Tree Campus USA is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.

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About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of more than one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. Toyota directly employs nearly 34,000 in the U.S. and our investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.

Toyota's guiding principles and commitment to being a good corporate citizen place people and the environment at the heart of everything we do. This includes the development of fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles, to reducing waste and energy consumption at our plants. To learn more about Toyota's environmental performance, visit www.toyota.com/about/environmentreport2009.

Toyota believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results and we partner with numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. Since 1991, Toyota has contributed more than $493 million to philanthropic programs in the U.S.

For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit www.toyota.com/community.