As constant rain and freezing temperatures remind us winter is on the way, Facilities Management is paying attention to a different sign of the season -- all the leaves on the ground.
"We haven't started getting the leaves up yet because the trees are just now starting to drop," Landscape Supervisor Rich Hopkins said. "This cold snap will bring the leaves down. Next week we'll start cleaning."
Hopkins said the leaf-cleaning effort usually starts at the beginning of November and can last until Christmas or February. However, he believes the cleanup may be quick this year.
"It depends on Mother Nature," Hopkins said. "We've gone straight from summer to winter without much fall. We haven't even had a frost yet."
The leaf management efforts absorb a large percentage of Facilities Management equipment and personnel resources.
Hopkins estimates that about three-quarters of the 38 landscape division employees will be cleaning up leaves on any given day, weather permitting.
"It's everyday and everybody," Hopkins said.
Equipment includes nearly every type of leaf-moving tool: simple leaf rakes, hand-held blowers, backpack blowers, push blowers, blowers that mount on lawn mowers and even two vacuum rigs.
Rain is the only deterrent to the leaf collection effort because it makes the leaves heavy and difficult to move.
"You end up moving a lot of water," Hopkins said. "If there are some leaves we have piled that we haven't collected, we'll go get those."
Rather than burning or throwing away the huge amount of leaves they collect, Facilities Management reuses the leaves in its own compost system. The compost is then used in plant bed and turf preparation in the spring.
Hopkins hopes students will bear with the dust and noise that attends leaf blowing. He added that some students enjoy the leaf collection.
"We have students jumping into the leaf piles every year, especially on the Lawn," Hopkins said. "A lot of times they ask. It doesn't bother us, as long as the leaves don't get spread and create more work."
But Hopkins warned to look before you leap.
"Sometimes you get sticks in there, which is kind of dangerous," he said.
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