CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–September 18, 2015. Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg Campus has been singled out this month by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) as one of the nation’s premiere college campuses where a wildlife habitat is thriving.
With a maturing prairie, half-mile walking trail, dozens of community garden plots and an edible forest with 13 new fruit trees, the University’s 27-acre suburban campus is among four college campuses whose certified wildlife habitats are featured in a new NWF report called “The Campus Wild: How College and University Green Landscapes Provide Havens for Wildlife and “Lands-on Experiences for Students.”
“We are proud to be recognized for our many efforts to transform the Schaumburg Campus from a typical suburban corporate-style landscape into a natural wildlife habitat where native flora and fauna are thriving,” said Paul Matthews, assistant vice president for campus planning and operations at Roosevelt.
Since 2011, the University has been converting grassy areas at the Schaumburg Campus into prairie, which now totals 8.5 acres of the suburban campus. One of the nation’s first college campuses to be certified as a wildlife habitat in 2013, the Schaumburg Campus today hosts growing numbers of birds, insects and animals.
“All of us at the University have come together to be good stewards to the environment, and the result is that we are now considered a leader in taking a holistic approach to achieving environmental sustainability,” said Matthews.
The new NWF guide highlights for the first time how higher education institutions across the country are working to preserve green spaces for wildlife for the benefit of students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community. Roosevelt’s Schaumburg Campus is one of three colleges in Illinois cited by NWF for its wildlife-promotion efforts and among 85 in the nation that are mentioned in the new NWF report that was released in mid-September.
“When I was a student here at Roosevelt University, I was initially drawn in to the University as a result of the University’s commitment and initiatives toward being a sustainable and green, higher education institution,” said Rebecca Quesnell, a recent Roosevelt Sustainability Studies graduate and the University’s new sustainable operations coordinator.
“This report is more evidence of the kind of work we have been doing and that we can
Source: www.roosevelt.edu
