University Conservation Success

Universities nationwide have seen success preserving the natural environments under their care, showing what can be gained when schools work with communities on and off campus to preserve the natural resources under their care. 

• 2,800 Acres Protected New York state’s Paul Smith’s College saw a skyrocketing 30% increase in enrollment following the protection of 2,800 acres of the college’s land and a strategy of leaning into their core identity and place-based education. Paul Smith’s College recently announced new student enrollment for Fall 2025 had grown significantly, with first-time, full-time freshmen enrollment up by 30% compared to Fall 2024.  This enrollment boost followed the enhanced protection of 2,800 acres of the college’s land. Their related press release on their enrollment success stated: “This increase in class size shows Paul Smith’s College has defied [the] national headwinds and is charting a different course, emphasizing the demand for its hands-on, place-based education.” 

Kathy Bonavist, executive vice president of advancement & enrollment at Paul Smith’s College also emphasized:“What makes us stand out is that we’ve managed to buck the national trend, showing how a small, place-based college can remain vital by staying true to its purpose and its community. Our story is not just about Paul Smith’s; it’s about the enduring importance of colleges like ours everywhere.”

• North Campus Open Space (UC Santa Barbara): UCSB partnered with government agencies and conservation groups to convert a 136-acre former golf course into a restored coastal wetland that was integrated directly into campus life. Completed in 2022, it now functions as a living field research site for students and faculty, as well as a place for the university to engage with the community. It has become inseparable from UCSB's identity as a leader in environmental science — consistently one of its most competitive and sought-after programs. Since this conservation effort, UCSB has been breaking enrollment records. 

• Dysart Woods (Ohio University): Ohio University transferred the Dysart Woods property to Captina Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust that ensures the land will remain permanently protected. While the university no longer owns the land, the conservation easement guarantees that the old‑growth forest habitat and surrounding land cannot be developed and can still be used for research and education by faculty and students.

• Ecological Preserve and San Joaquin Marsh Reserve (UC Irvine): Located adjacent to campus, UCI’s 60-acre Ecological Preserve and 202-acre Jan Joaquin Marsh Preserve are intended to serve and enable campus life and community activities, art and culture, habitat and watershed management, recreation, wellness, and interdisciplinary teaching and research. 

• McCarty Woods (University of Florida): Students, faculty, and community advocates protested plans to develop McCarty Woods and successfully influenced the administration to remove it from development consideration in the Campus Master Plan 2020–2030, preserving the woods in its existing form rather than building on it. Today, the McCarty Woods Restoration Project continues to help maintain the land, planting native species, spreading bark along trails, removing downed limbs, posting new signage, cleaning kiosks, tagging trees, marking boundaries, removing invasive species, and more. 

• Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson received a $10 million dollar gift, the largest in its history, following the protection of 191 acres of its campus.