MICHELLE HOFFMAN / Scroll
Water runs down the rocks at a water feature in front of the Jacob Spori Building. This is just one example of the relandscaping the grounds crew is doing in the wake of the widespread building construction.

BYU-Idaho grounds crew rethinks ‘landscapation’ after construction

Amy Barrus BAR04050@BYUI.EDU Campus Asst. Editor

Here at BYU-Idaho we are “Rethinking Education,” but to some degree we are also “Rethinking Excavation” as we work not only on the construction of the buildings, but the landscaping around those buildings.

“As you see the contractors of the building exiting and going out, we’ll [as a grounds crew] go in to try and restore the landscaping,” said Jay Warnick, the BYU-Idaho grounds supervisor.

Why has this new landscaping gone hand in hand with the construction?

“Everything inside the construction fence is destroyed or just dies,” Warnick said. “Many times when that destroying of the landscape takes place because of construction, we take the opportunity to evaluate the landscape.”

The landscaping around the areas with construction is being rethought, Warnick said. The Snow Building landscaping is about 20 percent intact from the way that it was before all of the construction.

Warnick said that they, as a grounds crew, ask themselves a couple of questions before they restore the landscaping exactly the way it was before the construction.

Do we like it the way it was? Is it an efficient use of water? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it serve the campus the best?

“If the answer is no, we take the opportunity to change and make it better,” Warnick said.
When the campus here in Rexburg was first Ricks College, there was little need for re-evaluating the landscaping, but Warnick said that times have changed from when he was here as a student and there were a lot of grassy, open areas.

“The buildings are becoming bigger as the landscape becomes smaller,” Warnick said. “Now the buildings are pushing closer to each other.”

This change was something that Desee Chamberlin, a senior from Ontario, Ore., recognized when describing the landscaping here on campus as it has changed recently, versus the other four years she has been here.

“Maybe [the new landscaping] is more part of the change/transition,” Chamberlin said. “We are always ‘Rethinking Excavation’ or ‘Rethinking Landscapation.’”

Chamberlin also said that the landscaping adds aesthetic beauty to campus, but that there’s something a little deeper than just the surface beauty of it all.

“It brings out a greater feeling in the campus … a feeling of respect and in appreciation of what the Spirit can bring to everyone’s lives,” Chamberlin said. “[It] contributes to a deeper understanding of the appreciation we should have for the blessings of this university.”

Alyona Veselova, a sophomore from Saint Petersburg, Russia, is on the grounds crew, specifically for the playing fields.

She describes her work as dealing with “grass, fences, all the teeny projects with pavement...and a couple flowerbeds.”

Veselova likes her work, and enjoys the landscaping around campus because of it. “It makes the campus look a lot better and makes me care about it more,” Veselova said.