The grass outside the Union building looks like an unfinished game of Tetris, with strips of turf lifted from the corners of the lawn and patches of soil showing.
Lisa Susan McCarrel, the supervisor of grounds at the U, said the missing sod was damaged from winter maintenance and new grass will be placed some time next week.
During the winter, the 63 miles of sidewalk on campus are cleared by Landscape Maintenance using snow plows and ice-melting salt. As snow melts and the water saturates the soil, salts dissolve and sink into the ground. Because of their dehydrating characteristics, the salts kill grass and can make the soil under the grass barren. This effect, combined with tractor tires and snow plow blades, can be too much for some areas of the lawn.
Russell Ballou, a junior in business, said he doesn’t care about the aesthetic of the campus landscape and is more concerned about how sustainable it is to maintain it.
The U consumes more than one billion gallons of water per year. Landscape Maintenance has used xeriscaping, which is a technique that covers the ground in mulch or rocks and decorates with drought-tolerant shrubs, in many areas. It reduces the amount of water used to maintain plants.
Although the U has replaced grass in some areas, there are no current plans to replace the entire area around the Union. Next week, all of the grass will be back for another year of students picnicking, studying and slacklining.
@emilyinorgandy