Despite having picked back up quickly after Hurricane Helene, Augusta University is still cleaning up landscaping damage while mourning the loss of around 350 trees, some of them historic.
A majority of those were on the college’s Summerville Campus, which was the hardest hit out of all four campuses.
Notable tree loss
At the Summerville location is an outdoor spot behind the main entrance off of Walton Way called The Grove that has traditionally been used for graduations, pictures and events. According to Daryl Bullock, director of Facilities Operations, there’s a “stunning” difference in the way The Grove area looks now versus before the storm hit.
“We lost quite a few big, old trees in that area…It’s not going to be like it was,” he said. “A lot of people have strong memories tied around that area.”
Two notable trees downed on campus were Georgia Champion deodar cedars, one located at the left hand side of the Summerville Campus entrance and the other at the corner of Arsenal Avenue and Walton Way.
The tree near the entrance, according to Bullock, was the largest of its kind in the state of Georgia with a trunk circumference of 201 inches – around 17 feet – and a height and crown spread of 83 feet each.
Working toward restoration
Bullock said that the college plans to partner with arborists to plant more trees, and that they are looking into installing markers at the site of historic trees that were lost.
“We’re going to try to respect what it was and bring it back…we’re trying to, in the background, put a plan together to get it back as close as we can to what it was,” said Bullock. “We’ll never instantly recreate that look.”
Overall cleanup progress
Per university president, Dr. Russell Keen, the college’s storm damage was mostly confined to landscaping, leaving most of its buildings unscathed.
Bullock said the campus has ultimately seen “dramatic improvements” thanks to recovery efforts.
“We’ve [cleaned up] the majority of the dangerous things,” he said.
