PSU Schuylkill seeking arboretum certification for campus

Oct. 5—SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — On the edge of Penn State Schuylkill Campus, biologist Mary Ann Smith recently examined what she called a bright white puffy plant.

More precisely, it's a tall boneset — a member of the sunflower family that has small white flowers and distinctive leaves — that grows wild in Pennsylvania and the eastern United States.

The tall boneset is among an array of vegetation that makes the Schuylkill Haven campus a repository of interesting trees and plants.

Indeed, Smith has documented 25 species of trees and shrubbery that could qualify the campus for accreditation as a Level 1 arboretum through ArbNet, a global community of arboreta.

"Differentiating ourselves as an arboretum," Smith said, "will allow our students to do research on a living repository of trees and shrubbery."

Should it gain certification, Schuylkill would be the third of Penn State's 23 satellite campuses to be designated an arboretum. The Mont Alto and Erie campuses already have certified arboreta, and the Penn State Main Campus also has arboretum status.

Nurturing history

Mighty sycamores that reign on the edge of campus harken to a time when it was the site of the Schuylkill County Almshouse, a refuge for the region's poor and afflicted, founded in the 19th century.

The county farmed the area until 1961, when it sold a 42-acre tract to Penn State for $1.

Three buildings dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s remain on campus, including a classroom complex that was once the almshouse hospital.

Nurturing wild and native plants, officials suggested, is a way of preserving the historical aura of the campus.

Darcy Medica, director of academic affairs, said the campus ecosystem and its history are intertwined.

"We have a lot of old growth on campus," she said. "Part of what we're doing has to do with the history of the campus."

As old trees and plants die, they are replaced with the same species along the Mall Walk and at other locations. This summer, 30 new trees and shrubs were planted.

Wild and native

On a recent tour of campus, Smith pointed out white birch, blue Colorado spruce, American linden and several varieties of maple.

While the trees have been on campus for generations, Smith is in the process of expanding the campus plant population.

She's applied for a grant from the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society for funds to bring native species of plants to campus.

Smith is looking to plant hazelnuts, American ginseng, high bush cranberry, American persimmon, elderberry, bayberry and pawpaw.

Native plants are better suited to the region's climate, she says, and more resilient to climate change. They also support other native populations, such as bees and native birds.

In deciding what native species to plant, Smith consulted the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, which has a list of plants native to Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Flora Project at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania.

Native plants suited to cooler temperatures, purchased from Cold Stream Farm in Michigan, are expected to arrive late this month or in early November. Students will help with the planting.

Smith, 37, who teaches biology and chemistry, holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science and several advanced degrees from the University of Scranton. She has been teaching at Schuylkill Campus since 2007.

By making some courses project-based, Smith hopes to incorporate the environment on campus as a learning tool. Students, she believes, often learn better by doing hands-on projects.

Making a record

As part of the arboretum certification process, which Smith is leading, all trees and shrubbery on campus must be identified and documented.

Since 2019, students in Smith's field ecology classes have been identifying plants and shrubbery with red tags. The Master Gardeners of Schuylkill County, part of the Penn State Extension service, also assisted in documentation.

Smith plans to use QR codes that will enable visitors to access information about the species with their cellphones.

The certification process had been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, but Smith expects to submit a formal application by the end of fall semester.

She is hopeful that Penn State Schuylkill's community garden, certified as a pollinator through Schuylkill Sustainability in 2016, will help gain certification.

Students, particularly those on campus during summer, have access to tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables in the garden as a food source.

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007