 "Photo: PHOTO BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN / THE CURRENT")
On Friday, October 23, the Campus Environment Research Program, also known as CHERP, got certified measurements from the Missouri Department of Conservation for a large shingle oak tree.
The tree is located in the Daughters of Charity Cemetery located on the University of Missouri-St. Louis south campus, about a quarter mile from the new nursing garage.
The tree was measured for eligibility to become the new Missouri state champion.
The American Forest Association maintains a database of large trees and there is a champion tree for each species.
Each state maintains a similar database for the trees located within the state.
The champion is determined by the circumference around the tree (at 4.5 feet off the ground), the height from base to top, and the average of the crown spread, which is how wide the branches are. The total gets put into a calculation to determine a tree number.
“I’m not sure of the exact number [to beat],” Jay Fish, program director of CHERP, said. “I think it’s 263 to 265 points. We calculated it to be 1 point above.”
The students of the CHERP urban ecology class discovered the shingle oak during a class project earlier this semester.
They measured the tree using a height measurer called a clinometer and a diameter tape.
Mark Grueber, urban forester for the Missouri Department of Conservation arrived to officially measure the shingle oak to determine its eligibility to become the Missouri state champion. The circumference of the tree totaled 11 feet, 5.5 inches, 114 feet in height, with the average crown spread of 8 feet bringing the total to 272 points.
The shingle oak beat the current Missouri state champion by seven points.
Stephanie Thompson, one of the students in the CHERP urban ecology class, was at the ceremony to witness the victory. Thompson, who is a senior majoring in international business administration, has also been looking into the trees outside of the Millennium Student Center with her class partner.
“We’re trying to make it greener by taking away a lot of the ground cover, I guess, and by putting more trees out,” Thompson said.
Current ecological data from the United States Forest Service indicates that shading by trees can make a big difference in the cooling load in the summertime for the air conditioners.
Thompson and her partner have already mapped each tree near the MSC using GPS and put it in a database.
“That will be some baseline ecological data to help the university make some decisions to be a little more green on campus,” said Fish.
This summer, two UM-St. Louis students in the CHERP program suggested to the university to plant a prairie at the beginning of south campus where the old hospital used to be.
“The students took their project proposal to the chancellor and cabinet and it was the first time in 26 years students had ever made a presentation to the chancellor and cabinet,” said Fish.
The students hope that the ecological benefit of planting the prairie will persuade the university to begin doing it.
“I think [the university] is very interested in becoming a green campus because they recently found out that it’s about $5,000 an acre to mow grass here, and a prairie only has to be mown once a year or once every other year, Fish said.
“There will be significant savings, plus changes into how water comes off and other eco-systems benefits.
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