Exterior Spaces Group Appendix A

Exterior Spaces Group
Appendix A: Impacts

Analysis of current situation

Data on grounds maintenance was provided by Ron Smith, Head of Groundskeeping for the Facilities and Engineering Department. This data includes the following information: maintenance intensity by region of campus, amounts and routes of debris flow and the estimated equipment and operations cost. Refer to the campus map of the summary of maintenance intensities and debris flow.

Estimated Waste Generated

	Volume(cubic yds.)
Leaves	275
Wood	125
Food	220

Impacts not identified above include the impact of transportation, maintenance costs, and the roadside runoff from having more vehicles in operation. The BAKE 302 food group provided the figure for the annual food waste production. Based on data from Ron Smith and his staff, we conclude that Rice uses a minimal amount of pesticides and herbicides. In addition, Rice already uses a reprocessed sewage sludge, HouActinide, for fertilizer.

The current practice for yardwaste right now is to collect and haul leaves to a central point on campus (the parking lot across from the Nanotech building).
Here leaves are stored in large piles until they are needed to redistribute back on the lawns. This process is not composting however for when they are reapplied, the leaves have not been decomposed to increase their available nutrients. Any excess leaves are hauled off-campus to a landfill. The wood generated on campus is partially used to provide firewood for the President and Master's Houses, but the rest of it is hauled off-campus to a landfill at an average cost of $1376/year (Ron Smith, interview). Food is also disposed of in this manner along with the rest of solid waste for an average cost of $2017/year (Solid Waste Group, ENVI 490).

Dr. Paul Harcombe is a professor in the Rice Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and one of the faculty closely involved with the BAKE 302 class. Dr. Alan Thornhill is also a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology who is involved with the BAKE 302 project. Both professors advised us during our research. In discussing our project with Dr. Harcombe and Dr. Thornhill, we identified benefits of diversifying species composition and age structure of trees at Rice. Diversity in age structure of trees is especially important as to avoid periods of elevated mortality, while maintaining diversity in the number of plant species. Using more native plant species would not only allow for reduced watering, fertilizing, and pesticide use, but would also serve as an educational device to display local species to the student body. The Italian Cypress trees lining the Academic Quad provide a remarkable example of the extent to which many campus trees are exotic to the area. A naturalist guide for the Rice campus would be important in both these regards to not only document the number of species, but also to serve as a pedagogical tool to enhance the student body's awareness of the local species and their natural surroundings.

Composting keeps a great deal more of the wastes on-campus by internally recycling them. This prevents having to transport this waste to off-campus landfill sites that are quickly filling up. The resulting composted material is also a rich source of nutrients and will preclude some of the purchasing of artificially created and more costly fertilizers. Rice spends approximately $4,140 per year on HouActinide and if we can substitute composted material for this, we will be saving the university up to this amount of money in fertilizer.