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By ALAN HOSKINS, Kansan Contributor

Although not as aesthetically attractive, a change in landscaping at Kansas City Kansas Community College has had a major impact both financially and environmentally.

“Instead of mowing some of our open areas every week to 10 days, we’re mowing twice a year which has been a huge savings,” says Jeff Sixta, the interim Director of Buildings and Grounds. “Instead of running the tractor virtually non-stop, we are able to use that employee in other areas. Also, it has dramatically cut down on carbon emissions.”

“Simply, it saves us money,” says Brian Bode, Vice-President of Student and Administrative Services. “It saves us in manpower, fuel, wear and tear on the equipment and it’s environmentally better and better for the wildlife. Mowing twice a year instead of every week simply saves taxpayer dollars.”

Bode said 21 acres of college property located north of Lowe’s across College Parkway were not mowed this year along with an estimated 10-15 acres of open fields on the main campus.

“We were able to find a farmer who needed the grass for feed who was willing to come in and mow, rake and bale the hay and haul it off at no cost to the college,” said Bode.

The first cutting and bailing occurred in early July, a second cutting will come this fall.

Sixta said the reduced mowing is not new on college campuses.

“I was over at the University of Kansas last spring and noticed they were letting open areas grow so I took some photos and showed them to Brian Bode,” said Sixta, who initiated the program on a trial basis last year.

Only areas without traffic were left un-cut.

“We mowed about 20 feet off the curbs and other areas to keep it looking as good as possible,” said Sixta. “And we did have some complaints, particularly from people walking the campus who have been use to a pristine campus and were not aware of what we were doing.”

As a result, changes will continue.

“We’re going to be tweaking it,” said Sixta. “For instance, we’ve learned there are some areas that we let grow that we’ll be mowing because of high visibility or it was an area that was too small to get equipment in to have it cut and bailed.” 

PHOTO: Mowing only the area along sidewalks and curbing in open areas of the Kansas City Kansas Community College campus has saved not only saved the college fuel, manpower and equipment costs but has dramatically cut down on carbon emissions as part of KCKCC’s “Go-Green” policy. (KCKCC Photo by Alan Hoskins)