University of Michigan to Spend $400K Moving One Tree
Higher ed bubble? What higher ed bubble?
Maggie Lit of Campus Reform reported.
University to spend $400K to move tree less than 100 yards
University of Michigan (UM) officials plan to spend $400,000 to move an old oak tree less than 100 yards from its original location to a more notable part of campus by the end of October.
The 250-year old, 65-foot-tall burr oak, which currently resides on the north side of the Ross School of Business, will be relocated to the complex’s main entrance. The task’s hefty price tag was factored into UM’s $135 million dollar donor-funded expansion of the school.
Environmental Design, a company based in Texas that specializes in the transportation and replanting of large trees, is tasked with removing the legacy oak. UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said consultants estimate that the tree has a 70 to 80 percent chance of surviving the transplant, according to MLive News.
The tree’s roots are surrounded by pipes that are designed to help support the tree and create four foot platform of dirt around the root ball. Altogether, the tree and dirt which weigh three-quarters of a million pounds.
University to spend $400K to move tree less than 100 yards (Campus Reform)
Comments
Ok, I can completely see this as the COST to move an object that weighs 375 TONS. But, unless there is something scheduled to be BUILT where the oak tree WAS,then this is just a waste of money that could have paid for 10+ Students to attend debt-free for a semester.
Money would be better spent on building a new lawschool building for U of M. While the “historical” feel is great for emotional reasons there, the steam heating system bangs horribly. I have no idea how the students there can sit through lectures and actually LEARN anything with that racket. (full disclosure, I attended Michigan State for my Law Degree, and was only at U of M for public functions, not actual classes).