Tree Campus

Three Generations of Planting

The trees here belong to three distinct generations of planting. The oldest predate the college entirely. When the Society of the Divine Word broke ground on its new Epworth campus in 1964, the land already held mature trees, farmstead plantings and native woodland that had been growing for a century or more. Some of those trees are still standing today.

The second generation was shaped by the 1964 landscape design commissioned from Kenneth Steliga and Associates of Waukesha, Wisconsin. The firm's planting plans, still held in the college archives, show the intended rows of trees along the east edge of the property, the courtyard plantings, and the perimeter groves. The crabapple trees that bloom so memorably each spring date to this era, now more than 60 years old.

The third generation was planted more recently, including the Red Oak grove on the eastern edge of campus, the work of Bro. Kevin Diederich, SVD, about 25 years ago. Since then, the college has lost more than 30 ash trees to the emerald ash borer and has planted more than 40 new trees in the same period. Fr. Tom Ascheman, College President, personally plants and tends trees on campus each year. The Tree Campus Advisory Committee continues this work today, guided by a formal Campus Tree Care Plan and pursuing grant funding for new plantings.

Planning for the Future

The 2022 campus tree inventory, conducted by Dr. Dave Koch and student researcher Aaron Gross of the University of Dubuque, documented 516 trees across 44 species, 65% of which are native to Iowa. Their survey also identified ash trees already succumbing to the emerald ash borer and recommended prioritizing underrepresented native species for future planting: Hickory, Birch, Aspen, Kentucky Coffee Tree, and others. Several of those recommended species are now featured stops on a campus hiking path that  showcases 10 tree species. 

Noteworthy Trees on Campus

A few individual trees stand out across the college's layered history. The Eastern Ironwood near the west side, recognizable by the cross attached to its trunk, has been nominated to the Iowa Big Tree Program by the Iowa DNR as the largest recorded specimen of its species in the state. The Butternut is threatened across its range by Butternut Canker disease, making a healthy specimen here a genuinely rare find. The Mockernut Hickory was among the species Koch and Gross specifically recommended for the campus, and a small cluster now grows near the northwest corner. The small number of sycamores on campus are the last trees on campus to leaf out each spring.

View the Tree Campus Walk Map