Sustainable campus operations

The ‘Am Hubland’ campus

When student numbers increased and its premises became too small in the 1950s, the University had to find a site for a new campus. In the mid-1960s, it started building the ‘Am Hubland’ campus on the north-eastern edge of the city, which is now home to many of the University’s Faculties, Institutes and central institutions. The opening of the new campus has reduced the need to travel across town.

Large undeveloped spaces on Campus Hubland Nord

The closure of the US Army’s Leighton Barracks in the autumn of 2008 presented a great opportunity for the University. Located in the immediate vicinity of the ‘Am Hubland’ campus, the former military installations encompass not only buildings but also large undeveloped spaces. Large parts of the site are now used by the JMU and have become Campus Hubland Nord. For ten years now, extensive construction work has been going on on the new campus.

Enhanced habitats

While the JMU is planning to construct buildings on most of the open spaces, it is also keeping ecology in mind. The University is under a legal obligation to create new habitats to compensate for the loss of existing habitats resulting from the construction of its buildings and is planning to create those habitats on the eastern part of the campus.

In addition, the JMU has agreed in 2019/20 to provide enhanced habitats. These will be connected by a ‘diversity trail’. As part of its efforts to promote ecological sustainability, the University also manages other spaces on the campus in an extensive manner.

‘Bustle spaces’ created by the ‘ArtZeiten’ project

Under the coordination of the JMU Sustainability Committee, the Technical Maintenance Service Centre, the working group for ecology and sustainability of the JMU Student Representation and the JMU Biocentre work together to implement the measures to make our campus more ecologically sustainable. The creation of ‘bustle spaces’ as part of the ‘ArtZeiten’ (SpeciesTimes) project of the Chair of European Ethnology (Prof. Dr. Michaela Fenske) is being accompanied by the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology.

Bee pastures, fruit trees, reduced mowing

The green spaces on campus are being managed by the Technical Maintenance Service Centre and our external partners in a manner that is suitable to their locations.
Actions taken include establishing bee pastures, reducing mowing frequencies to increase the biodiversity of indigenous species and planting fruit trees.

No broad spectrum herbicides

The University’s green spaces are being managed with biodiversity in mind. For example, we have switched from broad spectrum herbicides to mechanical and thermal weed control methods.

Dovecotes, nest boxes and wildlife cover

The JMU has incorporated animal welfare considerations into the management of the pigeon populations on its grounds. For example, it uses dovecotes for the control of the feral pigeons and provides advice for controlling pigeons when construction projects are being undertaken. We also install nest boxes for birds and bats when we construct new buildings or undertake construction work on existing buildings. As the presence of roaming dogs can stress the wildlife on campus, we will do more to remind people of the leash mandate that has been in force on the JMU grounds since 2017.

Read more

• Diversity trail
• The 'ArtZeiten' project
• Prof. Michaela Fenske
• Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology
• The 'Lebendiger Campus' initiative

Biodiversity

When Prince-Bishop Julius Echter re-founded the University of Würzburg in 1582, he endowed it, among other things, with forest land near Sailershausen in the Haßberge district. That forest is still owned by the University today.
The forest, which is 2,300 hectares in size, is managed by Hans Stark and his team at the Sailershausen university forestry office. Comprising seven foresters and two trainees, the team manages the forest in a sustainable manner. In 2005, their forest operations received FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) forest management certification. Since then, the forest is being managed without using herbicides, fungicides, insecticides or fertilisers.

More habitat trees

Since 2003 already, we have been making increased efforts to make the forest more ecologically valuable. Some wood is left unused, and old trees are left standing as habitats (woodpecker caves, nesting trees etc.). Between 2004 and 2014, the share of thicker pieces of deadwood (more than 20 cm in diameter) rose from 3.5 solid cubic metres per hectare and year to nine solid cubic metres per hectare and year. On average, there are around nine habitat trees in each hectare of the forest.

Biodiversity experiment

A large-scale biodiversity experiment started in the Sailershausen university forest in 2018. Led by Prof. Jörg Müller (Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology), the experiment is designed to find out how different ways to manage forests affect biodiversity. It is carried out on 75 plots, each 50 by 50 metres in size.
As part of the experiment, about 600 solid cubic metres of standing and fallen deadwood have been left in the forest and habitat trees have been created artificially.

Wind farm

Since the autumn of 2015, about 4.5 hectares of the university forest have been rented out to the wind farm operator Bürgerwindpark Sailershäuser Wald GmbH. Six out of the wind farm’s ten turbines are located on University land. The wind farm supplies approx. 50% of the electricity needs of the private households in the Haßberge district.

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• Staff members of the Sailershausen university forestry office
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Prof. Jörg Müller
• Bürgerwindpark Sailershäuser Wald GmbH