The history of Penn’s green, tree-filled campus

By Katherine Unger Baillie

In a recent piece in the journal Environmental Management, a team including current and former Penn students and staff, used archival materials and aerial photography to provide an account of the past 150 years of thought and effort that went into creating Penn’s current tree canopy. The endeavor was led by Master of Environmental Studies alumna Lara Roman of the US Forest Service. The project uses photographs, century-old campus plans, meeting minutes, and decades-old photos to trace the ebbs and flows of concern about Penn’s trees through the 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries.

Take a look at historical photographs and learn more about the lush history of trees on our campus on the Penn Current website >