In 2009, the Institute for Sustainability initiated an extensive project: to quantify the carbon footprint of the CSUN campus. Part of the project included the mapping and identification of close to 4,000 trees in order to calculate their environmental benefits, which include offsetting carbon emissions in our atmosphere.
The tree mapping project, published as the CSUN Plant Atlas, was actually started in 1989 by Robert Gohstand, geography professor, but had not been updated since its inception. The passage of 20 years, and the destruction caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and resulting major campus construction, prompted the Institute to update the atlas and make it available to CSUN students and the local community. To download the Map, click Campus Tree Map (Large File).
If you would like to spend more time among these giant natural carbon sequesters, and do good at the same time, then consider volunteering with TreePeople, a local non-profit. Volunteer opportunities range from taking care of tree saplings in the nursery to helping low-income communities plant fruit trees, or consider becoming a leader on some of TreePeople’s many projects. You will learn about tree care, water conservation, and the numerous benefits of planting more trees.
