Officials with Augusta University are continuing cleanup and repairs in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Work is ongoing at the Summerville and Health Sciences campuses, and the Forest Hills campus, which includes the Christenberry Field House.
On Oct. 18, ABD was taken on a tour of the campuses to see the progress being made and get an update on what has been lost.
Repairs are underway on the Christenberry Fieldhouse, along with the tennis courts and golf course, with the properties bounded by piles of cut-up trees.
“These are some of the trees from the golf course,” said Jack Evans, Interim Executive Vice President for Strategic Effectiveness and Chief of Staff. The clubhouse is fairly okay. What is really tough for us, from a financial perspective, is that we had the course closed for several weeks to redo the greens, and so we’re losing revenue and paying to have greens redone, which is expensive, and now there’s hurricane damage, and we have to stay closed even longer.”
Some of the most dramatic damage was centered on and around the Summerville campus. In the days immediately after the storm, Dr. Russell Keen, President of Augusta University, used the word “devastating” to describe the damage to ABD.
Three weeks later, trees were off the roads and repairs were underway on the structures.
“We’ve got a couple of buildings on this campus with roof damage,” Evans said. “But getting this campus cleaned up because there were just trees everywhere and getting this safe for students is a testament to the strength of the university system. We had people from Georgia College and State University, Georgia Tech, and a couple of people from UGA. It was all hands-on deck, and they helped us clear the campus and get it safe for students.”
One of the most noticeable locations on the Summerville campus was an area known as “The Grove.” It was a stand of trees that was a favorite for studying and socializing. Now, just a few trees remain. It was particularly impactful for Mic Hernandez, a 1999 graduate who is now Senior Communications & Media Coordinator.
“This entire section right here was full of trees. To the right was essentially where we did our photo shoot for our graduation stories in the spring and that entire section was covered in trees, and now it’s just completely wide open,” he recalled. “That, to me, was jarring, just because I was used to trees right there. And when this used to be a drive-through campus, you used to be able to circle up to the old halls and be able to circle around it.”
The next step is totaling the number of trees lost across the three campuses.
Daryl Bullock, Director for Facilities Operations, said so far, it appears 350 trees have been lost.
“We’re a tree campus now, and that involves this inventory and all the trees. So, we’re inventorying all the trees. We’ll make sure the number’s exact, and we’re going to try to age some of these trees as we go along,” he explained.
Among the casualties is the massive deodar cedar, one of the best-known and documented trees that welcomed visitors as they entered off Walton Way.
The deodar cedar was recognized in 2020 as a Georgia Champion Tree by the Georgia Forestry Commission. To be so designated, a tree must “have an erect, woody perennial stem, or trunk, at least 9.5 inches in circumference, measured 4.5 feet from the ground with a definitely formed crown of foliage and a total height of at least 13 feet.”
The Summerville tree had a circumference of more than 200 feet with a height and crown spread of 83 feet each.
Bullock said its age was estimated to be 500-600 years old.
There was one bright spot in the tree inventory. The offspring of the original Arsenal Oak, planted in 2016 from material from the original, survived with some relatively minor limb damage.
Bullock said some cut-up trees, particularly the old-growth trees, may be placed in storage to dry with the hope of using wood to create a memorial, much like wood from the original Arsenal Oak was used to create the Augusta University seal. The university is also looking at how trees can be replanted across the campuses.
“We don’t have the budget to bring in 90-foot trees or anything like that,” said Bullock. “But the goal was to go back to some of the photographic documentation that we had; and plant trees of the same type close to the same locations. Also, we talked about markers and things like that. We are to kind of bring attention to what was there before this hurricane.”
There may be an opportunity for alumni and the public to help with the re-planting.
“The Arsenal Oak, that was sort of a community effort,” said Evans, adding they may be able to replicate the effort, “Let’s raise some money to put some trees back here. I’m hoping we can do that. I hope that we can partner with the community and find people that maybe are willing to put their names on a tree.”
All three men understand the connection many people feel for the campus, even if they never attended classes there.
“It broke our heart,” Bullock summed up the feeling. “To everybody up here, fortunate enough to see it every day and know how beautiful it still is, but we want to preserve that memory and respect it.”
