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[Noise] >> [Background Music] From a distance, you
don't really notice them. They get somewhat overshadowed by rich architecture, iconic
landmarks and throngs of students. But as you move in closer to the 40 acres, they become
omnipresent. Trees, thousands of them, all under the watchful eye of UT's Director of
Landscape Services, John Burns. >> [Background Music] Many people think that
the campus is 40 acres. It's not 40 acres, it's 450. And we have just under 5,000 trees
on this campus. We're located on the Six Pack now and this is south of the main building.
These trees were planted in the '30s. They provide the iconic view of the campus. And
these trees also provide a wonderful respite from the heat. We are in the most severe drought
in the recorded history in Central Texas and we have trees that are showing symptoms of
the drought. They're losing leaves. With almost 5,000 trees on the campus, it is a concern
that we have to deal with. There are brown spots. Those brown spots are caused by squirrels.
They have a tendency to chew the bark off the trees and that's the result. And actually,
some of the trees that we have on the campus are--they've been damaged so many times by
the squirrels that they don't even grow right anymore. We are the University of Texas campus.
We're a beautiful place to be, so everybody wants to be here. The squirrels want to be
here too. I've been on this campus for 30 years and I love the campus. I love the trees.
It's a major undertaking that we take pride in and we'll continue to work for. That's
what we're paid to do, but that's we want to do too. We love it.