Page 10
Spring Edition, March 20, 1985
Don Heim, facilities operations worker, shovels sand and dirt from the parking lots behind Allen Field House. Workers have cleaned various parking lots on campus of dirt and of sand put down for the winter.
Campus spring cleaning begins
By JOHN RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter
Spring break, a time of fun and relaxation for many students, will give facilities operations workers a chance to clean away the winter refuge and prepare the campus for the arrival of spring plants, flowers and tree leaves.
Their goal is "to make everything neat and tidy," said Dick Bivens, associate director of housekeeping and landscaping for facilities operations, recently.
The campus should look its most picturesque by graduation, he said, when a beautiful campus makes you feel like a memorable experience for graduates.
Workers also try to maintain the attractiveness of the campus during the rest of the year, he said. The campus is divided into 12 areas and checked by eight gardeners, who prune dead branches from shrubs and search out other thorny problems on the campus landscape.
Bivens said workers sometimes removed trees not planted by University workers if the trees proved obstacles or were of inferior quality. But sometimes a tree that happens to
be growing in an area enhances the spot's beauty, he said.
An example is a walnut tree that grows north of the Chi Omega fountain. The tree is attractive and drew many KuU officials, so it has been let alone.
SOLUTIONS TO WOINTER problems become problems themselves in the spring. Workers must remove sand spread during the winter months for traction along roadways. This winter, campus workers deposited 180 tons of sand on campus streets. Some of the sand has collected along street curbs and in the grass that borders the streets.
Some of the work for this spring began in the fall. Workers applied a herbicide to the grass to prevent weeds and dandals from multiplying, Bivens said. The grass was also fertilized in the fall. Workers used an organic fertilizer derived from treated and refined sewage.
Workers also spread seeds over bare spots in the grass. Although sod is usually used to cover bare spots, he said, it generally isn't used by KU workers because of budget constraints.
SOD IS USED in new building construction projects in which the expense of laying sod is usually included in the cost of the project.
Pleasant spring weather also brings back unpleasant insects and diseases that threaten trees. The workers battle the annual influx in a variety of ways, Bivens said.
For example, pine trees are sprayed with a formula that prevents pine blight, which disfigures pine trees and eventually kills them. An oil is applied to the trunk of trees to keep insects, which bore holes into tree trunks and suck the tree sap, from reproducing.
Besides protecting plants from springtime pests and diseases, workers must make sure their equipment is in working order.
The sprinkler system is checked to see whether winter weather damaged sprinkler heads and water lines, Bivens said. The constant freezing and thawing during winter sometimes damages plastic fittings and plumbing lines.
ONCE THE GROWING season starts, the landscaping department's horticulturists, florists, gardeners create the plants in the flower beds.
Tulips should be plentiful in the large flower bed in front of Hoch Auditorium, Bivens said.
Although flowers are plucked from time to time, the thetis don't cause serious damage. Bivens said.
HOW WE SPENT OUR SPRING BREAK
830 Massachusetts