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I've recently heard complaints from several graduate students in Corry Village (campus graduate student housing) that they plan to remove up to 90 heritage trees in order to accomodate cranes for new construction and utility lines. They plan to replace the trees 4-1. The replacement plan sounds nice but it will take 30 to 40 years for the trees to provide the shade and asthetics of the current large oaks and other trees on the village grounds. Does anyone know if the green building practices that our campus has adopted also includes minimizing tree removal during construction and re-routing utilities in order to avoid damaging the existing trees? Or is clear-cutting the surrounding area a necessary step for new construction? If clear-cutting is NOT a necessary step, what can the students/residents do to challenge this decision? You may find the latest meeting minutes here: http://www.facilities.ufl.edu/lvl/minutes/2009/030909.pdf Corry Village contact information: http://www.housing.ufl.edu/facilities/resfac_grad_corry.html Thanks, Guneeta