Graciela Martinez
UK has long been a growing epicenter of healthcare and academics, and large facilities have been built, renovated, or demolished to accommodate this. But with all this expansion, what is the impact of growth on our campus tree canopy?
As a 2025 Summer Sustainability Research Fellow, I have been examining university archival material to showcase historical land use changes that have impacted tree canopy coverage throughout UK’s 160-year history. Our campus environment is continuously impacted by cultural changes and other influences.
It’s important to keep track of the green space that encapsulates the entire campus to promote a cohesive landscape and a commitment to the preservation of campus green space. Maintaining this natural canopy is not just aesthetic – it supports biodiversity, reduces heat, and provides a sense of continuity amidst change.
My day-to-day research has consisted of exploring the UK archives through their online platform ExploreUK. Faced with thousands of documents, I meticulously search for keywords that correlate with items pertaining to sustainability, tree care, tree changes, construction, master plans, and more to help me establish a dossier of initiatives that have impacted campus canopy.
I have examined Minutes of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees meetings, UK yearbooks, photographs, the Kentucky Kernel, and campus maps. These documents help me comprehend the feelings, viewpoints, and concepts that go into campus planning decisions, which can occasionally be related to the health of a tree, new construction, or demolitions.
Aside from the archival work, I have created GIS maps to help visually track the changes to canopy over time. This greatly aids in establishing a baseline understanding of current green space and canopy coverage while also tracking the changes over the past few decades. This process allows me to specifically pinpoint areas that have been preserved, as well as other areas that have been integrated into expansion efforts. Some areas on campus are considered culturally significant and are not to be touched!
Every day I uncover new and exciting information. Did you know that there used to be a stadium exactly where the Otis A. Singletary Center for the Arts now is? Stoll Field/McLean Stadium was home to the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team until Kroger Field opened in 1973. My mind is blown when I examine old photographs of the stadium. I would have never imagined the place was different from its current state.
Similarly, seeing the south campus Kirwan-Blanding complex with its twin 23-story towers and several surrounding low-rise residence halls was surreal. This dorm complex was demolished in 2020 leaving a large open space known as the south lawn, which is now under construction to provide another new dorm complex. These findings and others like it have been the most fascinating part of my research so far. I love being able to see locations on campus that have drastically changed through accounts of old photographs, newspapers, and meeting minutes. Being on campus you would never be able to tell the different buildings that used to occupy that space and there’s something about that that truly excites me.
When this research is complete it will include an assessment of historical changes to tree
canopy and land use on campus, a historical timeline to analyze past and present sustainability efforts, and recommendations for future campus land and tree
management. I hope that the quantitative assessment, and visual analysis of the shifting
tree canopy across campus, will serve as educational material for environmental history.
Hopefully by sharing these valuable insights, my research can help guide future land-use decisions to balance new construction with environmental preservation. Overall, the findings of this research will bring to light the university’s sustainability policies, tree planting strategies, and campus master planning efforts, ensuring the health of our environment and campus as a collective.
