Sustainability & Environment Reports

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  Vermillion Bicycle Master Plan

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  We can travel substantial distances fast on bicycle, which makes almost no noise, uses no fossil fuels, and produces no emission. Vermillion have developed and maintained the foundation of a strong trail system, created a bicycle culture in which a substantial number of basic transportation trips are made by bike, established an initial system of shared bike routes, and initiated a highly successful pilot bike-share program. This Bicycle Master Plan Study is dedicated to encouraging its citizens to make healthy, low-impact, and intrinsically pleasant transportation a greater part of their daily routines. While we know that most trips will continue to be made by car, the region’s transportation system should offer choices, including the option to feel safe and comfortable using the healthy, sustainable, and socially satisfying means of mobility that the bicycle offers.

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  Yote Bike Share Operations Manual

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  Yote Bike Share was started by the Sustainability Capstone class in 2017. This was started to better the mental and physical health of the students and faculty of the University of South Dakota. Not only does it make Vermillion healthier and more connected, but it also gives students and faculty that do not have a bike a sustainable option of transportation. Over the first year the bike share program has been a huge success. Students have found the bike share program extremely enjoyable. In the future we hope to expand. We see this program being expanded to other areas on campus, and hopefully we can make this available to the entire community. The bike share program is a great service that betters the health of the university.

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  Visioning Vermillion: Shared Stories of Our Future

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  In order to know how to make Vermillion a more desirable place to live, we need to know what people who live in Vermillion would love to see in our community. Through a Community Innovation Grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation and in partnership with United Way of Vermillion, Greening Vermillion engaged with people in Vermillion to ask them “What is your vision for Vermillion?”

  We gathered visions for Vermillion by talking with people through a series of scheduled sessions and through a mobile visioning station. These visioning sessions began in August 2015 and continued through December 2015. Following the visioning sessions, we synthesized the results and shared these visions with the community at a Visioning Vermillion Day celebration as part of Earth Days 2016 in late April.

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  Presidents’ Joint Committee on Sustainability

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  Sustainability is a complex topic and has many different interpretations. Because of the diversity of ways to understand sustainability, it is necessary for USD to define what sustainability means to us in order to move towards a more sustainable campus and community. We believe that having a clear vision for sustainability will have a positive impact on USD, including our students, faculty, staff, and the physical environment, and the Vermillion community.

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  Community Threat Assessment Protocol

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  Beginning in the summer of 2012, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, Division of Resource Conservation and Forestry (RCF), began conducting rapid community forest assessments through the “Community Threat Assessment Protocol” project, or CTAP. This effort to establish a new assessment protocol is a response to the increasing concern of approaching forest insect, disease, and wildfire threats in South Dakota. The resulting assessments provide communities with current information about their community forest resources. These assessments will enable communities to make educated management decisions to proactively address possible threats. This project was funded through US Forest Service Redesign grants.

  CTAP collected data on all actively managed, publically owned trees in parks, on city managed properties, or in easements and planting strips along streets. To complete the assessments, RCF hired contractors to collect data regarding all appropriate trees. The information that was collected includes tree location (by marking the tree location using TreeWorksTM), tree species, stem diameter, tree height, and tree condition (a general statement of a tree’s health at the moment of inventory).The purpose of this report is to provide the current information to assist with completing an overall management plan.

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  University of South Dakota Carbon Task Force Findings & Recommendations

  Department of Sustainability, University of South Dakota

  The Task Force plans to determine the University’s carbon footprint as well as look at solutions for our use of natural gas and working to implement proposals highlighted in this report. The pursuit of sustainability is an on-going process in a constantly changing environment that warrants continued attention and increased focus on the part of the University.