Metz wrote:I can explain a lot of what 87 said!
The trees in front of the Ice Arena were all ash trees. Every tree in front of the field house along the street and on the islands (except one maple is on an island) will be gone, too.
This is from poor planning by the university as they've known about the ash problem for longer than most realize. The best thing would have been to take down every other 3 years ago so now when the rest would be removed, there would still be other new trees started. All-in-all, there are between 400 and 500 trees on campus properties that are ash and being cut down. On campus alone, there is around 254. All of the ash trees next to Batch were also removed.
If they do widen Ridge street and replant trees, hopefully people have learned a lesson and will alternate trees. If they don't widen that street, all of the big trees are Locust trees and if they catch something, goodnight to them like the ash. Alumni drive also was lined with trees of the same sort. Continuity is cool, but having 3 different trees in a row alternating would definitely be better for campus.
By the admin building, the "sidewalk widening" you saw was actually a parking lot for service vehicles. This will keep them off of the bricks in front of the admin building. There is also another parking lot by the math-science building of the same sort.
They took the Bobcat out and started digging last week by the Wolfe center in the 4 corners of where I assume all the building will take place. I believe they were doing some depth checks and what not.
Metz - Thanks for all the info, it was very helpful and informative. I haven’t been able to find a site on BG’s website that explains these issues like the way you have, so thanks for passing the info along, it was interesting to hear. Anyone know if we have a University Landscape Architect, and if so, who it is? I understand the reasoning for the removal of all these ash trees, but damn that suck. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a tree hugger and it just pains me to see the number of trees on campus continue to be removed. It’s no secret BGSU has always been knocked for have so few trees in relation to the amount of campus acreage. But between campus construction, the removal of the ash trees and regular tree maintenance, the campus is really starting to look bare in a lot of places. Many of the few (if that even makes sense to say) trees we have are slowly disappearing. Some have at least been replaced, but others have not. And if you look at some of the large trees in the quad by U-Hall, the bases of them are in bad shape and it wouldn’t surprise me to see many of them in the near future needing to be removed as well.
I was actually looking at a photo file I have on my computer last week of some campus images from over the last 10 years and or so, and campus has really thinned out in some areas. What’s strange is, the actual town of Bowling Green is pretty loaded with trees and if I’m not mistaken, the town of BG is classified as a "Tree City." Aside from the cost, I always wondered why BGSU has never made an effort to plant more trees on campus. Our campus is flat as a pancake, we don’t have a scenic view and we don’t have many traditional looking collegiate buildings. My friend’s wife is a guidance counselor and she said you wouldn’t believe how many times those things come up as negatives against BG from students who visit BGSU. We can’t do anything about the lack of hills or vistas, but we could make more effort to at least plant more trees or design buildings that look like university facilities and not modeled after objects. I was just at Indiana University this past weekend. IU’s inner campus is like walking in a park, it’s beautiful. The inner campus looks like a university was dropped into a state park or something. Most of the buildings are stone and some are nicer looking than others, but they have a forest with walkways in the heart of campus, tree-filled meadows, an arboretum, etc. Bloomington is a college town, it isn’t a hilly area (though it does have some roll to it) but I really like the way they have developed that campus by incorporating the green spaces and buildings. That's just my lousy two cents.
