Natural Areas

Prairie
Kent State University’s prairie is located at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Prairie habitats are native to Ohio and are made up of unique plant communities, with grasses being the dominant species. In Ohio, the most common prairie grass is big bluestem, Andropogon gerardii. Each spring, the protected prairie surrounding the Student Recreation and Wellness Center is burned to put nutrients back into the soil and make way for new growth.  

VIDEO: KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRAIRIE BURN

Pollinator Habitat
During the summer, Kent State University’s pollinator garden is abuzz! Kent State University plants native flowering plants that supply pollinators with nectar, pollen, and homes. The pollinator-friendly habitat is located along the path between Henderson Hall and Eastway’s Allyn Hall. Interpretive butterfly garden signs can be seen along with bat houses.

POLLINATOR HABITAT

Campus Gardens
Kent State has two campus gardens. The Food Insecurity Garden is located behind Nixson Hall and maintained by the Nutrition and Dietetics faculty and students. Food from this garden is donated to Portage County children’s meals during times they are not receiving food provided through the National School Lunch Program, via Might Pack Program. Another garden is located behind DeWeese Health Center. The DeWeese Health Center’s Wellness Committee accomplished one of its wellness initiatives of creating a community garden focused on growing fresh produce, learning best-practice gardening techniques and managing stress through connection with nature.

DeWeese Health Center Community Garden

Food Insecurity Garden

Climate Change Grove
The climate change grove offers opportunities for research. The tree grove, located behind the Student Recreation and Wellness Center on the Kent Campus, was created through a partnership between University Facilities Management and the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. The trees were planted by students, Kent State alumni and other volunteers during the university’s annual Alumni Day of Service in 2018. Climate change can affect the environment in different ways. The tree grove is a great way for students to study that change while helping the environment.

Learn more about the Climate Change Grove

Presidential Oak Grove
Located just north of Manchester Field on the Kent campus, stands a grove of 13 unique oak tree species.  The Presidential Oak Grove was dedicated in April of 2015 to recognize and give thanks to all of the former and current university presidents.  Each tree is a different oak species to recognize the unique contributions made by each of these leaders. Oak trees were chosen because they symbolize strength, power and resiliency.   

Tree Campus Higher Education
Kent State has received The Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus Higher Education designation since its inception in 2008. The Arbor Day Foundation started Tree Campus Higher Education to recognize colleges and universities maintaining healthy community forests. Trees provide many benefits to campus from reflecting heat, providing shade, reducing noise pollution, capturing rainwater, cleaning the air, and enhancing health benefits.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TREE CAMPUS HIGHER EDUCATION AT KENT STATE

Planting Partnership
University Facilities Management's Grounds shop is pleased to offer the opportunity for giving the gift of greenery.  This truly unique gift will be seen and enjoyed by thousands and will be remembered for generations to come. To commemorate the gift, an attractive certificate will be sent to the person or organization being honored.  In the case of a memorial gift, the certificate will be sent to the family.

PLANTING PARTNERSHIP

Jennings Woods
A 74 acre temperate forest research site with riparian, upland, and bottomland habitats is located in Ravenna, Ohio.

JENNINGS WOODS

Aquatic Education Research Facility
The AERF is replicated experimental wetlands on campus. The HAERF was built on the KSU campus in 2001. It includes 10 independently flooded wetland basins, a stream pool habitat, and terrestrial habitat around the perimeter of the wetlands. The wetlands have been in use since 2002 to conduct population and community-level experiments under natural environmental conditions. 

AERF

Peatland Wetland
A peatland wetland includes a shallow pool, dry in the summer that usually floods after spring rains and snowmelt. Kent State University faculty, staff and Biology Club students collaborated on a management plan to preserve a peatland wetland on campus. Kent State University is using best management practices to achieve its goal of providing a healthy and functioning wetland ecosystem. This provides excellent amphibian breeding habitat due to the lack of predatory fish. 

PEATLAND WETLAND

Stormwater Wetlands
Stormwater Wetlands are located along the Portage County Hike and Bike trail and Summit Street. Stormwater wetlands (a.k.a. constructed wetlands) are structural practices similar to wet ponds that incorporate wetland plants into the design. As stormwater runoff flows through the wetland, pollutant removal is achieved through settling and biological uptake within the practice. Wetlands are among the most effective stormwater practices in terms of pollutant removal and they also offer aesthetic and habitat value. Although natural wetlands can sometimes be used to treat stormwater runoff that has been properly pretreated, stormwater wetlands are fundamentally different from natural wetland systems. Stormwater wetlands are designed specifically for the purpose of treating stormwater runoff, and typically have less biodiversity than natural wetlands in terms of both plant and animal life. Several design variations of the stormwater wetland exist, each design differing in the relative amounts of shallow and deep water, and dry storage above the wetland. (USEPA)

Environmental Science and Design Research Symposium

The Environmental Science and Design Symposium is a multidisciplinary forum that promotes the exchange of ideas related to the resiliency of natural and built systems.  Speakers from a wide range of disciplines (fashion, geology, geography, architecture, and ecology) will address topics related to urban, sustainability, restoration, and the integration of design with biological systems.

Registration is free and open to the public.  You may support the symposium, attend, submit abstracts for poster presentations, and encourage other students and colleagues to attend!

ESDRI SYMPOSIUM

Cleveland Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Plan 
The Kent State University Cleveland Urban Design Collective has been working with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, the University of Buffalo, the Cleveland Office of Sustainability, and a host of local partners on an initiative to improve climate resilience in Cleveland neighborhoods. A portion of the multi-pronged project is testing the use of up to 200 empty lots for rain gardens, food gardens, community gathering places, native plants, and wetlands restoration. Other project components include helping residents reduce energy use, and working to strengthen neighborhood social connections.
CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRESS

Kent State Columbiana Arboretum and Gardens
Kent State Salem is the only campus in the Kent State system to offer associate and bachelor’s degrees in horticulture studies. The campus features a well-established arboretum with more than 200 different types of trees, shrubs and cultivars, as well as hosta gardens and a Discovery Garden that teaches students to grow vegetables, which are donated to the local food pantry. Before designing the butterfly garden, Kent State students conducted soil testing and site assessments. Students then used specially selected plants that attract butterflies.

KENT STATE COLUMBIANA ARBORETUM AND GARDENS

Kent State Stark Campus Gardens 
A new course during the 2017 three-week summer intersession, Campus and Community Gardens, provided Kent State University at Stark students with the opportunity to design, plant, water, weed and harvest a campus garden. The course, taught by Chris Post, Ph.D., associate professor of geography, focused on giving students the tools, time, contacts and guidance necessary to set up a network of organizations and individuals who participated in the food’s organic production and distribution. The goal: to empower students to find better solutions to food concerns. The course may be over, but Post hired a student employee this summer to care for the garden. He says students in the class formed a club and also will help. Additionally, this fall, students in classes such as Sociology of Food will be able to help care for the garden. 

KENT STATE STARK CAMPUS GARDENS

Kent State Stark Wired Wetlands 
Kent State Stark’s 17-acre Pond & Wetland Habitat/Wildlife Study Area has a high-tech sensor network, known as the “Wired Wetlands” project. The network allows students and faculty to collect data about the environment surrounding the pond and within the pond itself and upload data to websites in real-time. Students have access to the data – and for free – as they conduct their research.

KENT STATE STARK WIRED WETLANDS