Urban Forestry Works provides mature trees and specialized tree relocation services to university campuses throughout the Southeast. These beautiful historic trees help a campus to present a prestigious, established, and inviting appearance while adding lasting environmental benefits for students, educators, and visitors.

Project Challenges

Historic Stetson University, in DeLand, Florida, is known for its outstanding efforts to support a healthy outdoor environment. The university has won multiple awards from the Arbor Day Foundation and Tree Campus USA for effective tree planning and implementation. The university follows a Native Plant Landscaping policy for its campuses and provides academic opportunities for environmental learning.

At Stetson, the technical aspects like planning and tree policies are seamlessly added to the beauty of the historical buildings and publicly displayed art. The university has done an excellent job of preserving the historic DeLand and Gulfport campuses. Country Living Magazine highlighted the university’s emphasis on aesthetics when it named Stetson one of the 25 of the Most Beautiful College Campuses in the South. The list of colleges and universities included Vanderbilt University and other well-known Universities who are widely acclaimed for the beauty of their campuses and the impact large landscaping makes on campus life.

Stetson University planned to add signature live oaks to flank the main entrance of the DeLand campus where the campus grounds crew removed four storm damaged and dying water oaks. The requirement was for replacement trees with established canopies to match the historic significance and beauty of the university’s campus.

The university also had concerns about the limited amount of space at the entrance. Streets and other existing hardscapes created a tight workspace, making it challenging to maneuver heavy equipment and large trees in the minimal work areas.

UFW Solution

Stetson University was a perfect match for UFWs’ deep inventory of mature, high character live oak trees. University representatives visited the UFW Barberville, Florida tree farm. They walked through the inventory of live oaks and selected trees they felt were perfectly suited for the university’s main gate.

As for working in limited space, UFW has years of experience working in close environments with trees weighing up to and sometimes exceeding 200,000 pounds, while maintaining one of the highest survivability rates in the tree transplanting industry. This experience has uniquely prepared UFW to safely work in a variety of challenging environments such as near hardscapes, buildings, and other trees.

The LTTS transplanting system uses patented steel boxes fabricated to securely hold the root system while providing attachment and lifting points for crane and loader use. The transplanted tree does not require pinning or strapping. And lifting is done at the box, the tree or root ball are not disturbed. Lifting the box prevents stress on the tree and makes working in limited spaces easier all while protecting the root system.

UFW successfully met the university’s requirements for native trees of size and beauty. The challenges of a small workspace were overcome with careful planning, experience, and the use of UFW’s unique technology.

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