Landscape Services team digs in to keep campus beautiful

· 3 min read

Landscape Services team digs in to keep campus beautiful

By the numbers
Student employee watering plants on campus
Craig Chandler University Communication
Karen Wilson with Landscape Services waters the flowers outside of the Sheldon Art Museum on City Campus.

Landscape Services is the unsung hero of campus beauty. While students walk to class among blooming Canna Lillies and towering trees, students and staff work tirelessly to maintain intricate displays of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals.

This summer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Landscape Services staff, including 22 students, spent more than 4,000 hours cultivating the campus landscape for summer visitors and in anticipation of fall.

The staff maintained:

  • 617 total acres 

    Worker mowing grass on campus
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Tyler Kingsley, a worker with FM&P Landscape Services, mows outside the Visitors Center on 12th and Q Streets.

  • Over 325 acres of green space 

    Husker flag on Nebraska campus in open green space
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Husker Flag made of mega blocks being assembled on green space by Nebraska Union.

  • Approximately 7,000 trees which contribute to the Arbor Day Tree Campus designation. The university has earned the designation for the past 13 years. 

    Fall tress on Nebraska campus
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Lincoln trees display their fall colors on UNL's City Campus.

  • 15 miles of streets and 35 miles of paved sidewalks 

    Scenery on campus
    Katie Black University Communication
    The sun shines through the trees on a park bench on the south side of City Campus.

  • 84.5 acres of parking with 16,076 stalls 

    Cars lined up in a campus parking lot
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Cars line up in the College of Dentistry parking lot.

In 2021, landscape services has planted:

  • 4,108 annual plants 

    Sunflower field
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Sunflowers in field near Minneapolis, Kansas.

  • 669 perennial plants 

    Blooming purple daffodil
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Blooming flower on City Campus.

  • 314 shrubs 

    Up close photo of pine sprouts
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Greenery on City Campus.

  • 137 trees 

    Magnolia trees on Nebraska campus
    Craig Chandler University Communication
    Blooming Magnolia Trees outside the Lied Center on City Campus.

Landscape Services also supports recycling efforts at Nebraska. In 2019, the university diverted 3,354 tons of materials away from the landfill with a diversion rate of 59%. The university employs three full-time drivers to empty bins across campus, which include 979 recycling and waste receptacles. According to Green Quest, as a result of recycling efforts in 2019, the university conserved:

  • 11,837 trees

  • 4,874,240 gallons of water

  • 974,848 pounds of air pollution

  • 2,854,912 kilowatt-hours of electricity

  • 2,298 cubic yards of landfill space

Recycling and trash bin on campus
Craig Chandler University Communication
The Office of Sustainability installed new recycling stations in 2020.

In the winter, Landscape Services trades their lawnmowers for snowplows. During winter 2020-21, they spent:

  • 4,428.25 hours clearing parking lots

Blanket of snow covers UNL campus
Daniela Chavez
City Campus gateway pillars in the snow

  • 5971.75 hours clearing sidewalks and building entrances

Snow covers UNL campus
Justin Mohling
The sidewalks are clear next to R Street from the snow that covered City Campus.

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