Facilities and Grounds

  Grounds & Landscaping

First impressions are paramount. At College of the Redwoods we recognize this fact and our Gardening staff strive to provide not only a positive first impression, but a lasting impression as well. Over the years our students have universally ranked the physical beauty of the campus as one of the major factors influencing their decision to attend College of the Redwoods.

The Eureka campus is situated on 268 acres of land overlooking the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Much of the property is covered in Coastal Redwood and Sitka Spruce woodland dotted with open meadows. We have approximately 35 acres of turfgrass including athletic fields, large open lawns, and intimate emerald islands. 37 acres of landscaping completes the campus; most of which has been done in an informal scheme in order to create a seamless transition with the natural setting.

Before the implementation of the infamous Proposition 13, College of the Redwoods had six Gardeners and a Head Gardener. By 1989 budget cuts brought the staff down to just two full time Gardeners. To keep the campus in a state of aesthetic appeal the District, on the advice of the Director of Facilities and Grounds, decided it was time to rectify the situation. The College now employs a Senior Gardener and three full time Gardeners. Each possesses the knowledge and experience necessary to perform landscape maintenance and construction, equipment maintenance and repair, integrated pest management, plant propagation, and a host of associated skills. All members of the gardening staff possess Qualified Applicator Certificates from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Each is a member of the Pesticide Applicators Professional Association, and they attend seminars annually to keep up with changes in the industry and improvements in integrated pest management. Each Gardener is also required to have computer skills not only for record keeping and access to industry information but, because in the year 2000 a centralized automated irrigation system was installed campus wide. It is controlled by a single Tucor Flow Master which is accessed through the Windows operating system on a Maintenance building computer. This system replaced the old practice of manually installing sprinkler heads and dragging out garden hoses on a daily basis. It also allows the campus irrigation to be spread out over twenty-four hours seven days each week rather than the old forty and five. All scheduling and diagnostics are done from a single workstation.

Throughout the academic year students employed through the Federal Work Study Program assist our staff. The students issue forth from varied backgrounds, age groups, and levels of experience. Each one is given the opportunity to gain valuable experience while attending college and to play a part in the continuing aesthetic appeal that brought them here in the first place. The full time staff provides each student with training in skills such as pruning, mowing, production of landscape plants from seeds and cuttings, soil preparation and planting, irrigation techniques, and sprinkler system installation and repair. They are given instruction on the safe use of tools and equipment and are taught to recognize unsafe situations and procedures for handling them. Each year we get new students eager to work with the gardening staff because of recommendations from former student employees and each year we look forward to the rewards of interacting with the diverse individuals we are so fortunate to have here at College of the Redwoods.