Stewardship
Land, Water, Life
Yale’s Efforts
- Inspired by student research and recommendations, Yale has installed multiple urban meadows and rain gardens throughout campus.
- The Yale Landscape Lab at West Campus, and the Yale Experimental Watershed host fieldwork and research projects, and offer opportunities to connect sustainability solutions to the natural and built environment.
- More than 8,000 trees have been planted in the City of New Haven through the Urban Resources Initiative, a not-for-profit-university partnership. Over 130 of the these are on campus, 48 of which recognize Yale employees for long-term service.
- Initiatives in Yale’s Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan aim to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff from campus, improving water quality and public health.
- Yale’s Water Management Plan recognizes water as a critical resource, promotes metering, conservation technologies and conservation research, and prioritizes adaptive management strategies.
What You Can Do
- Help us save water on campus by being conscientious of your use.
- Discover Yale’s many green spaces that help to manage stormwater.
- Join the many students, faculty and staff who participate annually in bird walks on campus and citizen science events to survey and record biodiversity on campus.
Our Objectives and Goals
Urban Growth and Campus Planning
Develop transformative approaches to urban growth and campus planning that address financial, environmental, and social imperatives
A Yale Planetary Solutions seed grant enabled the continuation and expansion of the Sound School’s artificial oyster reef in New Haven Harbor, in collaboration with the Wright Laboratory Advanced Prototyping Center, the Yale School of the Environment, and New Haven Public Schools. Students, teachers, and scientists worked together to install 17 reef balls, which allow sea life to establish residence. To date, there have been clear signs of increased biodiversity, which is monitored by instruments that upload real-time environmental data. The reef improves local water quality, contributes to climate resiliency, and provides a “living laboratory” for both Sound School and Yale students to study the impacts of artificial reefs on supporting marine life.
Campus Land Use Planning Guidelines
ON TRACK
By 2025, complete the update to the Framework for Campus Planning.
An update to the Framework for Campus Planning is underway and slated for completion in 2025. The update will summarize campus development over the last quarter century and set planning direction in support of the upcoming Campus Framework Plan.
Efficient Campus Growth
ACHIEVED
By 2020, develop and implement planning strategies to efficiently accommodate increased campus population and programmatic expansion.
This goal was achieved in 2020 when Facilities Planning adopted an approach to new buildings and renovations that maximizes efficiency using flexible workspace principles. Efficient campus growth projections by space type have set a baseline assumption for Yale’s zero-carbon-ready strategy in coordination with the Office of Institutional Research.
Land and Water Management
Develop innovative approaches to land and water management that enhance human health, biodiversity, and environmental vitality
Landscape Management and Use
ACHIEVED
By 2021, define standards for innovative landscape management to enhance care and use of Yale land inside and outside of New Haven.
This goal was achieved in 2021. Yale Office of Facilities successfully developed landscape standards and a campus tree management plan in 2020. These standards have since been implemented through the Facilities capital program and Facilities landscaping and grounds.
Stormwater and Water Management
ACHIEVED
By 2020, implement recommendations as proposed in 2016 supplements to campus Stormwater and Water Management Plans in explicit alignment with municipal, regional, and state priorities.
This original goal was achieved in 2020. In 2023, Yale completed a Stormwater Planning Study for Central Campus and Yale School of Medicine, which identified critical areas for greater stormwater management. The 2025 capital plan includes funding for mitigation projects and planning for West Campus. Revised stormwater design standards are underway.
Biodiversity Plan
ON TRACK
By 2025, establish campus best practices, standards, benchmarks, and biodiversity goals and strategies to meet and measure performance to create a campus biodiversity plan.
Implementation of Yale’s Biodiversity Plan is underway. Yale Office of Facilities has completed tree surveys on all of Yale’s campuses and the golf course, data from which will support further habitat analysis. Other projects supporting biodiversity on campus include Yale Divinity School’s Living Village, which is in construction, and Marsh Botanical Garden, which is removing invasives and planting for pollinators.