Having earned the distinction as both a Tree Campus Higher Education from the Arbor Day Foundation and a gold-level Bicycle Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists, it's no wonder increasingly popular on-campus activities include "hammocking" and bicycle riding. Both activities are great ways to enjoy fresh air but can become safety concerns or inadvertently damage the landscape, if not conducted responsibly.
According to the Penn State Office of Physical Plant’s (OPP) landscape team — the unit which stewards University Park grounds and landscape — one of the biggest threats to the health of the campus landscape, particularly trees, is climbing, hanging hammocks, and slacklining from trees. Such activities can unintentionally and irreversibly damage trees and compact the soil near them, not to mention the potential risk to human safety some of these activities pose.
To offer safe alternatives to hanging a hammock in a tree, OPP and Housing and Residence Life teamed up in 2019 to install the first “hammock grove” on campus, located on the south side of Stone Hall, in the East Halls area. The popular hang-out spot consists of seven staggered cylindrical posts for Penn Staters to attach their hammocks. The posts were donated by Clayco, the construction management firm for the East Halls renovations. Additional “hammock groves” are currently planned for other areas of campus and will provide long-term sustainable options for student recreation.
According to Brien Phiel, supervisor for grounds maintenance, ornamental horticulture/arboriculture at Penn State, the biggest challenge for the health of the trees comes from where hammocks and slacklines are attached to the tree trunks. This gear, even if marketed as “tree-friendly,” can damage tree bark and the inner cambium layers of the tree, which is not always visible, leading to long-term health consequences for the tree — such as cutting off nutrient and water transport and creating points of infection for pathogens and insects. This becomes particularly concerning when the same trees are repeatedly used, and the risk is particularly high in the spring when trees “reawaken” from their winter dormancy.
“I do not think there is any intent to harm the trees. Just the opposite, the students who use hammocks are commonly the students who enjoy the landscape and are often advocates for the trees,” said Phiel. “But to preserve these large trees for future generations of Penn Staters, we should deter these actions to prevent irreversible damage and premature death.”
According to Cecily Zhu, sustainable transportation program manager with Penn State Transportation Services, bicycling on campus has become increasingly popular in recent years, thanks in part to the Spin e-bike share program and the recent opening of the Bike Den in the West Campus Parking Deck. Cyclists are reminded to obey traffic patterns and ride only on approved routes and roads.
“We're proud to be a gold-level Bike Friendly University and love seeing so many bikes on campus, but that doesn’t mean incidents can’t occur,” said Zhu. “To prevent accidents, it’s imperative for cyclists to operate their bikes responsibly and with others in mind. The same goes for vehicle operators when sharing the road with cyclists.”
As warm weather and eye-catching landscapes lure students, employees, and visitors to enjoy the campus grounds, the University encourages the campus community to enjoy the shared outdoor space responsibly.