A City Within a City: Columbia University

Profile: Richard Bussert: Director of Landscaping and Grounds

Interview by Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Richard Bussert, Director of Landscaping and Grounds, Morningside Campus and Baker Field.

 

Richard Bussert has followed a circuitous route to Columbia University, but circuitous became fortuitous for both. In the golf course business for 20 years, he transitioned to grounds management at Skidmore College. There, he met a wonderful lady who lived in New York City and at age 55, Bussert pulled up his roots and made the move. He was, in part, inspired by a book by Spencer Johnson the theme of which is that life is about taking controlled risks. That controlled risk in turn brought him to Columbia.

The view of Columbia University’s historic urban campus in New York City gives only a partial sense of the size and scope of this 36 acre site which serves 21,630 students and employs 6,733 instructional and non-instructional personnel. And they all want to sit on the grass and walk all over the place 24 hours a day. It is truly a small city that never sleeps.

Many lawn plots on campus are small and often surrounded by hedges, making mowing and maintenance awkward and difficult. Several of these areas were identified, the sod was removed and several types of ground covers were planted. Here, at St. Paul’s Chapel, the grass was replaced with Vinca minor ‘Bowles.’

Almost all the work is done by a full time staff of eight. However, says Bussert, we work closely with Lynden Miller, Director of the Conservancy garden in Central Park, who helps us maintain a unified planting and design theme.

Bussert became a landscape manager because, although he had a degree in history, he had gotten a part time job at a golf course operating equipment.

Fortunately the campus is fairly confined, although now we have East Campus and the Law School which goes from 116th to 118th streets between Amsterdam and Morningside.”

”We manage to work around all the people by starting early in the morning, and being sensitive to noise issues,” says Bussert. “That ties in well with our program of reducing the amount of lawn acreage and thus reducing the amount of mowing and maintenance.”

Commencement week can wreak havoc with the campus lawns. This year, the tents pictured above were installed for three days, completely broken down for one day, then reinstalled again overnight for several days before final breakdown and load-out. Image courtesy of Richard Bussert

They manage to work around all the people by starting early in the morning, and being sensitive to noise issues. “That ties in well with our program of reducing the amount of lawn acreage and thus reducing the amount of mowing and maintenance,” he says. “We’ve been planting Vinca minor ‘Bowles’ in place of grass as a ground cover.

“Frank Molina oversees daily operations with the grounds staff. His background includes training at the New York Botanical Garden,” says Bussert. “We have seven-day-a-week coverage, although on weekends we have smaller staffing than we do Monday through Friday.” The staff day starts at 6AM and ends at 2:30 PM. Another shift starts at 7 AM and ends at 3:30 PM.

This low level view of Butler Library from the Journalism building displays several of the campus standard features, including the ornamental hoop fencing that frames many of the display beds, as well as Stony Creek granite used for curbing and Old English Brick pavers used for many of the campus thoroughfares. Taxus hedges are also a recurring theme throughout the landscape.

The great south lawn, both East and West, at 27,000 square feet each are the two biggest lawn areas on campus. Both are covered with turf blankets in the fall, and it is easy to see the head start the covered grass gets when compared with the uncovered area when the covers are removed in early spring. With commencement held in mid May, there isn’t enough time for the spring growth to establish itself and look good after long cold winters.

The major event on campus is, of course, commencement. For that, the lawns have to be kept in very good order, which is often difficult because of timing. Applying an earth blanket is imperative so that the lawns come out of the winter with a jump start. “We can get accelerated color early by using the turf blanket,” says Bussert. “Commencement is arriving shortly after the start of a cold spring. This year it begins May 18th through the 22nd, which often isn’t long enough after snow events to get it going nicely.”

“Power brooms are also a very helpful tool because many times instead of puffy powder the snow is mixed precipitation. The brooms do a better job of removing it from concrete sidewalks, as well as brick pavers and hexagonal pavers, granite steps, etc. Since we have a variety of different surfaces, maintenance of the walkways is a challenge. We have a sweeper scrubber and we operate that daily, weather permitting, as well as frequent hot and cold water power washing.”

Looking down the granite steps lined with coleus, taxus and magnolia, one can see beyond the ornate ironwork of the gates across Broadway to the entrance of Barnard College, the author’s Alma Mater.

In the four quadrants that surround the corners of Low Library, the sod was removed and purple leaf winter creeper was selected and installed as groundcover, reducing mowing and the associated labor, as well as fertilizer requirements. Later in the fall, daffodil bulbs were planted for a colorful show the following spring.

High volumes of pedestrian and vehicular traffic necessitate continuous maintenance of the eleven acres of concrete sidewalks, brick and asphalt pavers and granite steps.

The staff also handles waste management, although the New York City Department of Sanitation works in coordination with them. They have pickups throughout the campus, which they take to a designated pick up area. The city removes trash in the middle of the night. Environmental issues and sustainability issues are also addressed by recycling of bottles, cans, plastics, batteries and electronics. Those are sent to designated temporary storage areas prior to removal by a contractor. Grounds supervisor Frank Molina works with Waste Management Supervisor Keith Birch, “We are thinking of composting as well, but doing that within a large city needs more thought and planning,” says Bussert. “The Office of the Environmental Stewardship Department is very interested in expanding this project.”

Practice is in February and play is in March and April, which is almost impossible for a turfgrass that is in dormancy to withstand.

Less than two months before this commencement picture was taken, there was a significant snow event. All of the facilities employees worked together to bring the campus to a peak appearance in this very short time frame. The campus must look perfect and the grounds are on display. In attendance were an estimated 40,000 people.

At the Baker Field sports complex, which is part of Columbia University in northern Manhattan, artificial turf has been installed to allow the use of the fields in early spring when the natural turf is not actively growing. With practice in February and play in March and April, it is almost impossible to maintain a natural field that is in dormancy. Image courtesy of Kevin Malone, CSFM

The campus has less tolerance for snow and ice than perhaps in places where there is a lower population. “We have plows on at least three trucks,” says Bussert. “Power brooms are also a very helpful tool because many times instead of puffy powder the snow is mixed precipitation. The brooms do a better job of removing it from concrete sidewalks. Since we have a variety of different surfaces, maintenance of the walkways is a challenge.

There have been some sad moments as well. They just lost the two American Elms remaining on campus, which were found on the grounds of Earl Hall facing Low Library. “It was an event that brought tears to many watchers’ eyes. High wind sheer compromised their structure and it was determined for safety reasons they should be removed,” says Bussert.