Look
at them all! Eyes sparkling, William H.Murdy gasps and
points to a carpet of water oak seedlings. Its like
a little army isnt it?
On
a wet February morning, the former dean of Oxford College and
Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of Biology makes his
way through the Woolford B. Baker Woodlands in the ravine between
Glenn Memorial Auditorium and the Michael C. Carlos Museum.
Pausing every few minutes to yank out English ivy and honeysuckleinvasive
species that threaten to strangle native growthMurdy gives
a botanical tour of the last remaining stretch of the original
Piedmont forest in which Emory was built.
A
recent survey of the woodlands yielded a total of eighty-nine
plant species, seventy-seven of which are native trees, shrubs,
and woody vines. Aside from the little army of regenerating
water oaks claiming space cleared by volunteers, there are mature
beech, sweet gum, box elder, tulip poplar, and hickory trees
in the Baker Woodlands. The uncommon alternate-leaf dogwood
and umbrella magnolia, with its deciduous, oblong leaves, grace
the forests lower canopy. In the dappled sunlight on the
forest floor and along the spring-fed creek meandering through
the woods grow delicate nodding trillium, fruity-fragrant sweet
shrub, and several native azaleas, including the Cumberland
azalea with orange blossoms and jutting stamen. (The Cumberland
azalea is classified Rhododendron bakerithe same Baker
for whom the woods are named, a long-time professor of biology
and Emorys first landscaper, who was committed to protecting
the Universitys natural environment.)
In
February, Murdy organized a series of ivy pulls,
and more than eighty volunteers braved the drizzly winter weather
to clear the forest floor for native spring growth and to plant
azaleas and other shrubs. The project was co-sponsored by the
Friends of the Emory Forest, a membership organization founded
by JoAn Chace, senior lecturer in the English department and
the wife of Emorys president, and dedicated to funding
the restoration and preservation of forest canopy across the
campus.
Woodlands
restoration is a part of a larger movement to establish a campus-wide
environmental policy at Emory. Last year, a group of faculty,
staff, and administrators formed the Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental
Stewardship. Led by professors Peggy F. Barlett (photo, opposite
page) in anthropology and Karen Mumford in environmental studies,
the committee now has at least eighty members who discuss priorities
and determine actions over an e-mail listserv. Guided by the
Universitys master plan, the committee calls on Emory
to become a more positive and creative force in the protection
and enhancement of the environment through its teaching, research,
and administrative operations.
First
and foremost, the committee envisions a sustainable campus.
In addition to protecting Emorys natural environment,
it has advised campus planning on the greening of
construction projects.
One
of the really meaningful things about this entire environmental
effort is that it builds community, says Barlett. What
weve seen in the Baker woods restoration project is a
sense of excitement. People enjoy being in the woods and seeing
it returned to its natural state. Its really inspiring
to watch faculty, students, staff, and alumni work side by side
with each other and delight in this common project.
Indeed,
a major goal of the committee is broad participation in environmental
efforts, which hinges upon creating an environmentally literate
body of students and employees. Curriculum is an important aspect
of this effort. The committee champions the new undergraduate
major in environmental studies and calls for increased visibility
of environmentally oriented faculty and student research. It
also turns its sights outside the campus boundaries, urging
for an ethos of contribution to region-wide environmental
concerns and closer linkage to other Atlanta institutions.
Barlett
says the committee hopes to present the final draft of the environmental
policy to the University Senate this fall.Sharla A.
Paul