Tree Campus USA Institutions More Than Double in Second Year; Arbor Day Foundation Holding Five Tree-Planting Events to Celebrate

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus USA program is having double the impact on college campuses across the United States in its second year of existence. To celebrate this achievement, the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota will plant trees on five college campuses throughout the country this spring.

The first spring tree-planting event will be held at American University in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 6.

In just the second year of the program, 74 schools earned Tree Campus USA recognition, more than double the number of institutions that were honored last year.

The Arbor Day Foundation started the Tree Campus USA program in the fall of 2008 to recognize colleges and universities that practice sound campus forestry. In the first year of the program, 29 colleges and universities earned Tree Campus USA recognition. The aim of Tree Campus USA is to honor college campuses and the leaders of their surrounding communities for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship.

Since its inception, Tree Campus USA has been supported by $1.3 million in grants from Toyota.

"Teaming up with Toyota to plant trees on college campuses across America is an ideal way to celebrate the success of Tree Campus USA," said John Rosenow, chief executive and founder of the Arbor Day Foundation. "Tree Campus USA continues to encourage students and volunteers to work together for the benefit of their community. Tree Campus USA will have a lasting impact because it will inspire people to take care of many wonderful campus forests."

In addition to American University, Tree Campus USA tree-planting events will be held this spring at the University of Pennsylvania; Indiana University Bloomington; the University of Louisiana, Lafayette; and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. About 300 trees will be planted during these events.

To earn Tree Campus USA recognition, schools are required to meet five core standards of tree care and community engagement. Those standards are: establishing a campus tree advisory committee; evidence of a campus tree-care plan; verification of dedicated annual expenditures on the campus tree plan; involvement in an Arbor Day observance; and the institution of a service-learning project aimed at engaging the student body.

More information about the Tree Campus USA program is available at www.arborday.org/TreeCampusUSA.

About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of more than one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.

About Toyota: Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. Toyota directly employs nearly 34,000 in the U.S. and our investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.

Toyota's guiding principles and commitment to being a good corporate citizen place people and the environment at the heart of everything we do. This includes the development of fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles, to reducing waste and energy consumption at our plants. To learn more about Toyota's environmental performance, visit www.toyota.com/about/environmentreport2009/.

Toyota believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results and we partner with numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. Since 1991, Toyota has contributed more than $493 million to philanthropic programs in the U.S.

For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit www.toyota.com/community.

SOURCE Arbor Day Foundation