Despite last week's flurries and cold weather, Facilities Operations and Management is gearing up for a hectic nine weeks of pruning and planting leading up to Commencement and Reunion in early June.
"There is a huge amount of work that has to happen before Commencement," Associate Director of Facilities Operations and Management John Gratiot said.
Gratiot estimated that the College spends about $100,000 a year "summerizing" --or cultivating and planting grass, pruning trees and cleaning up the mess left after winter.
"In a week or two we'll start spreading seed for when we have warmer temperatures," he said. "And in the next few weeks we will be adding half-a-dozen workers, because it doesn't take long before the grass starts growing."
Gratiot said Dartmouth's annual "summerizing" is ambitious in scope compared to other institutions.
"My counterparts from other institutions come here and they always look at our campus and say 'what a beautiful place,'" Gratiot said.
Gratiot said much of his department's work is aimed at making the campus look good for Commencement and Reunion.
"There are thousands of parents and thousands of alumni coming back for reunions," he said. "Our springtime mission is to do all we can to make it look as good as we can."
And Gratiot said the campus's appearance does make a difference. He said he is "absolutely convinced" there is a correlation between campus appearance and alumni donations.
"What you see as you look around makes a big difference in how you feel about a place," he said. "And what you give is based on how you feel."
Director of Major Gifts Paul Sheff said "an attractive campus would affect in general ways the alumni attitude toward the College, and, therefore, their attitude toward supporting it."
But Gratiot said alumni donations are not the only reason why the College works so hard to make the campus look good.
"Clearly we don't do it because we're trying to get money, but because it is part of the institutional goal to have it look as good as it can," he said.
The harsh Hanover winter also takes its toll on the College's outdoor athletic facilities, and grounds workers are currently working on getting those fields into good shape.
"The Athletic Department is saying they want to get all those spring teams out onto their fields," he said.
"The other effort is the lawns, the Green and all the central campus grass areas ... In the fall we aerate it. And in the spring we overseed it and apply fertilizers," he said.
Special consideration is given to the strip of grass that separates the sidewalk from North Main Street, Gratiot said.
"Every year that gets roto-tilled and reseeded," he said. "By Commencement they will all be green."
Facilities Operations and Management also manages the numerous trees on campus.
"Dartmouth has a tree warden who spends his time in summer and fall looking at trees and determining where they are dying," Gratiot said. "In spring he trims those trees."
"The mild winter allowed me to do a lot more in the way of pruning," College Tree Warden Dave DiBenedetto said. "If I don't have much to do in the way of snow duties, then I can prune more trees."
DiBenedetto said most of the important trees -- such as those around College President James Freedman's house and in the central campus area -- have already been pruned.
"Now we're gearing up for evaluating the trees in terms of pests, disease and potential hazards," he said.
But according to Gratiot, not all the department's work is concerned with new vegetation. Cleaning up winter debris is also a major concern.
"We rake all the lawns to get the winter dead-grass off. We pick up lots of sand that has been spread," he said. "We also pick up any sticks and twigs that are dead."
Because there was little snow this winter, Facilities Operations and Management spent significantly less money than anticipated.
"We may have saved as much as $150,000 from last year. And based on statistics from the weather service, last year was actually about average," Gratiot said.
