Hamilton College a small liberal arts college in Oneida County, NY, was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793. It received its charter as Hamilton College in 1812, in honor of Alexander Hamilton, one of its inaugural trustees, following a proposal made after his death in 1804. Since 1978, Hamilton has been a coeducational institution, having merged with its sister school, Kirkland College.
Since 2018 Hamilton College has been working to reforest part of its lands, including former agricultural fields and a repurposed golf course.
The reforestation project began as an Earth Day event organized by student sustainability leaders. Over the past seven years, it has expanded to cover dozens of acres with more than 5,000 trees planted.
Today, the college’s reforestation area acts as an outdoor learning lab, providing opportunities for students and faculty to study forest ecology, tree selection and care, reforestation planning, and carbon sequestration.
The area features trail networks that offer recreational opportunities to the campus community and visitors. Since trees mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing carbon, this project also plays a role in Hamilton College’s Climate Action Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
Photo: Hamilton College President Steven Tepper touring the reforestation project in July 2024 with the Sustainability Office’s Sara Soika and sustainability interns Marcela Rondon, Austin Cipriano, and Shey Sanges (Zach Stanek photo provided by Hamilton College).
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