Across the globe, university campuses are working for the good of nature. Now, we at the MUST project are making campus areas more green and wild in Finland.

Have you ever paid attention to the state of nature or followed the life of different species on university campuses?

In the MUST project’s campus pilots, we draw attention to the importance of biodiversity and the coexistence of other-than-human species. Our university campus pilots are interventions aimed at rewilding green spaces, such as planting vegetation in areas with little or no prior greenery.

This year, we launched campus pilot projects at the University of Turku’s Yliopistonmäki campus, Tampere University’s Hervanta campus, and LUT Lappeenranta University’s Skinnarila campus.

Next spring, we will see the results as the added greenery on the campuses will begin to flourish. Bulb flowers, liverworts, shrubs, and hopefully the first meadow flowers, will burst into their full glory. We have also planted currant berry bushes to campus areas that originally belong to the Nordic grove biotype. In addition, since these campus areas have long been parks, ornamental plants providing food for pollinators have been planted on the grounds.

We have planned and executed the campus pilots under the MUST project’s work package five that operates at the architectural faculty of the Tampere University in cooperation with the technical managers of the University Properties of Finland SYK Ltd. Our aim is to use nature-based building practices on all pilot campuses. In the campus sites, we have utilized the results of parallel research projects such as Biodiversity interventions for well-being BIWE and the experience of the green builders selected for the project. Before the interventions at the campuses, we examined the plant species in the area and took soil samples.

Insect hotels, built together with university students, will be installed at all pilot campuses next spring. Campus surveys were conducted in October 2024, and as a thank you, we distributed MUST overall badges to the respondents.

Pilot campuses have their special features

In Lappeenranta and Tampere, we remolded the lawn area around the trees, so that we could better nurture the root systems earlier damaged by lawn mowing. At Lappeenranta LUT University, we created additional coverage for the two aspen trees next to the western entrance by planting berry bushes and ground cover plants to protect the roots of the trees.

To accompany the white beautiful flowers on the grounds, we created green patches where we sowed the seeds of meadow flowers. We also brought tree trunks to the campus to serve as benches and to decay and provide protection for insects in the habitat. Cicadas and small insects will also benefit from the stone edge that borders the area. People can now follow a new path to the shade of the trees. The Lappeenranta pilot was implemented in collaboration with Peltolan Piha Oy.

At Tampere University’s Hervanta Campus, we surrounded two maples located at the front lawn areas with tree trunks that were earlier removed from the campus due to a construction project. Now, you can easily sit down on trunks, for example, during events on the campus. On the earthfill embankment, we planted berry bushes and ground cover plants, such as different types of gorse. For the sunnier area, we created a place for sun-loving plants, and the first honeybees and bumblebees already found their way on the spot during the planting phase. We also made a new path for people to stroll and placed a bench at the end of the path to offer a view over the campus. The Hervanta site was implemented in collaboration with Mansen Ekotarhuri.

At the University of Turku, the pilot is located on the steep and rocky slope of Tiedonportaat (Stairs of Knowledge) at the Yliopistonmäki campus. We removed the overgrown mountain pines from the area, that do not belong to Finnish nature, and replaced them with low growing junipers, berry and ornamental bushes, perennials and small meadow patches. We supported the vegetation of the rocks by nurturing the existing rocky ridge species. The rocks already contained their own rich lichen and moss species.

Now we are at a phase where we develop the lower part of the slope into a meadow by nurturing and planting seeds. At the edge of the pilot site, we made a low rotting fence, where we piled the branches collected from the area. When the branches rot, they return to the soil as nutrients, benefiting many organisms and increasing the diversity of the soil. The University of Turku site was done in collaboration with Lassila & Tikanoja.

 

Text and pictures: Laura Uimonen, Tampere University