Grounds
The Kamloops Campus of the Thompson Rivers University is an area renowned for its landscaped grounds which are frequently cited by staff, students, and visitors as being extraordinary.
The developed portion of the Campus totals approximately 90 hectares of buildings and grounds with a further 40 hectares of undeveloped area located beyond the extremities of University Drive to the north and the Trades and Technology complex to the west.
The Grounds Maintenance Department is responsible for providing a safe, functional and aesthetically-pleasing exterior environment for the students, faculty, staff and visitors to the University.
Grounds staff are responsible for:
- All turf & grass maintenance
- Tree, shrub & flower bed planting & care
- Asphalt/concrete surface repairs
- Exterior waste/recyclable collection & disposal
- Irrigation programming & maintenance
- Curbs, signs & other exterior fixtures
- Bush, woodland, meadows & trails
- Snow & ice removal
- New landscape work & capital project support
Horticulture Program Student Support
The TRU Horticulture Program makes use of the Kamloops Campus for teaching practical grounds maintenance skills including:
- Mowing, line trimming, edging and clean-up of grassed areas
- Shrub and flower bed maintenance
- Preparation and planting of plant material
- Fall clean-up activities
- Tree and shrub pruning
Thompson Rivers University Guidelines on Pesticides
TRU adheres to all legislation related to pesticides. This includes the Pest Control Products Act (federal) and the Pesticide Control Act (provincial). In addition, the Ministry of Environment in British Columbia has set forth guidelines for the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) when dealing with eco-systems.
TRU has, in accordance with the encouraged use of IPM, put in place a Pest Management Plan which recognizes the importance of planning to prevent organisms from becoming pests, followed by identification, monitoring and injury thresholds related to pests or problems. Once action is determined to be necessary, strategies for managing problems may include biological, physical, cultural, mechanical, behavioural and chemical controls. When a chemical control is employed, the least toxic pesticide is chosen. Spraying of insecticides is only used as a ‘last effort’ when survival of plant material is threatened, and only directed against the target problem/population, and never used as a preventative measure.
The historical practice of preventative blanket-spraying of large numbers of ornamental shrubs or trees with insecticides one or more times per year has been abandoned a number of years ago in favour of small target applications as needed. The total of pesticides used has thus been greatly reduced.
Weed Problems:
- gravel-covered areas are being paved as money becomes available
- natural areas are being hydro-seeded to promote a cover crop.
Service Requests:
Please refer to our Contact Us page.
