Doane College was recently named a 2008 Groundwater Guardian Green Site by The Groundwater Foundation in recognition of the college's groundwater and environmental stewardship. Doane College earned the exclusive designation based on its current practices related to water use, pesticide and fertilizer management, and pollution prevention.
Doane is the first college in Nebraska to earn this designation, and joins College Heights Country Club as a second designated Green Site in Crete.
Groundwater Guardian Green Sites are essentially places with a lot of green space - like golf courses, ball fields, educational campuses, and residential, recreational, and office parks - that implement groundwater and surface water-friendly practices to maintain the site. To earn the designation, site managers complete a simple application that uniformly evaluates and documents their site's groundwater-friendly practices, such as selecting plants adapted to the region's climate, tracking irrigation water use, maintaining a no-application zone around surface water and active wells, and applying fertilizer based on nutrient needs.
2008 is Doane's first year as a designated Groundwater Guardian Green Site. The Green Site program began in 2007 to recognize good stewards of groundwater by encouraging managers of highly managed green spaces to implement, measure, and document their groundwater-friendly practices.
Groundwater Foundation President Jane Griffin points out that, "Groundwater is an extremely valuable resource in Nebraska that contributes to our health and well-being every day. Most Nebraskans rely on groundwater as a source of drinking water, but they also rely on groundwater as a necessary input for agriculture and business. Recognizing active groundwater stewards like Doane College is our way of motivating others to do the same."
The Groundwater Guardian Green Site program is supported by the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 Pollution Prevention Program, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For a complete listing of all designated sites, visit http://www.groundwater.org/gg/gggs_list.html.
The Groundwater Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska with a mission to educate and motivate the public to care about and for groundwater. Since its inception in 1985, the Foundation has offered various educational programming for youth and adults. To learn more, visit http://www.groundwater.org/.