Lets Write about the beautiful trees on the campus of Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine

Leaf It to Bowdoin: Explore Campus Trees with a New Guide 

Beautiful walking paths are adorned with an arboretum exhibit on the campus of Bowdoin College.

Published in Bowdoin News by Rebecca Goldfine

Kentucky Coffee Tree leaves

 Campus arborist's favorites (spoiler: the Kentucky coffee tree and the paperbark maple, plus others.)

(Check out the Bowdoin Tree Tour link😊❗)

Bowdoin has 1,559 trees on its main campus, made up of more than 115 species, including 65 native ones. The tallest is a white pine, at 114 feet. The widest is a 156-inch northern red oak.

These statistics are a sample of the information offered in the Sustainability Office's new online Bowdoin Tree Tour, which aims to acquaint people with the campus's most statuesque denizens.

The Bowdoin Tree Tour is an outgrowth of a 2023 survey, first worked on by Dylan Petrillo ’26 for a unique summer job. He mapped out more than 1,000 trees between Bath Road, Park Row, Sills Drive, College Street, and South Street, recording their species, diameter, height, and health.

Though originally conducted as a means to monitor the conditions of trees, Director of Sustainability Keisha Payson and her student team decided campus visitors might also appreciate the information in the study.

Bowdoin College Campus

To turn the findings into a usable product, Petrillo and Julia Kate “JK” Bradley ’25 crafted an ArcGis Storymap from Petrillo's data. They also did additional research, anticipating what people might want to know, such as which trees are among the campus arborist's favorites (spoiler: the Kentucky coffee tree and the paperbark maple, plus others.)

The Tree Tour also introduces Bowdoin's tree crew, lays out the College's tree care and pest management plan, and explains Bowdoin's status as a Tree Campus USA. It names a few classes that study trees, offers details about the historic Bowdoin Pines, and includes photos and information about Bowdoin's maple syrup production.

The project supports one of Payson's communications objectives. “We want people to know there’s intentionality around the trees on campus and the care that goes into them,” she said. “And we want people to know how much we appreciate them.”

“They are part of what makes our campus beautiful,” she added. ”And for the curious who might have questions, there is now a resource for people to learn about them.”