UT adapts campus landscaping to climate change

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Take a walk down University Avenue on the University of Texas campus in Austin and you will find landscaping that will make you stop and stare. Floral designs in the shape of a star and the university's "UT" logo provide a gateway to the natural beauty of the campus.

Of the 430 acres on UT's campus, 150 of them are solely for landscaping and plants. It takes a team of 105 people, and a yearly budget of $3.5 million, to keep the campus looking pristine. But climate change poses a threat to the university's landscaping.

"What we've been seeing in recent years are more extreme changes in the climate in terms of the hotter summers, but then also colder winters," Brent Stringfellow, the associate vice president for campus operations, said.

Stringfellow said he and his team are constantly discussing how to adapt the university's landscaping to the extreme heat, freezes, and droughts. It's a constant balancing act. The team has to decide what will be placed in 2,600 different plots of land.

"Well what plantings might go here? What might succeed? And then balancing the different needs of the landscape," Stringfellow explained.

Stringfellow said the university is using better practices to be more mindful of its use of water. In recent years, the university has been using reclaimed water to irrigate its plants at newer campus additions like the Moody Center and Dell Medical Center. Reclaimed water practices are when you take water from the sanitary system, treat it, and then reuse it for watering plants.

When it comes to the freezes in central Texas, Austinites are no stranger to broken branches that can wreak havoc on cars and power lines. The landscaping team has an active program to prune and trim trees throughout the year, Stringfellow said.

If a tree is lost in a storm or due to age, the university does recycle the trees into compost or mulch.

The team is not just focused on the more formal landscaping areas like the ones you see down University Avenue. There are also other informal landscaping projects that add to the aesthetic and quality of the campus, like the turtle pond. Stringfellow also said there are hopes to increase access through Waller Creek, which runs through the campus and right by Darrell K Royal-Memorial Stadium.

As the campus continues to grow, Stringfellow and the landscaping team are making sure they continue their best practices of water conservation and plant protection.