In response to Loren Byrne's letter, "Campus maintenance is not natural or 'green,'" I'd first to commend the OPP landscape crew on their fine work at University Park.

Byrne asks why all the lawns at Penn State must be mowed and suggests diverting funds toward the establishment of native butterfly gardens. While Byrne is not specific as to which areas he'd like to see become butterfly sanctuaries, one can only imagine the HUB or Old Main lawn being transformed from a functional turfgrass area which can accommodate numerous recreational activities to a non-mowed naturalized area. These "ecologically-correct," non-mowed native areas would not only potentially attract butterflies, but also "biodiverse" species such as rodents, snakes, mosquitoes, lime-disease carrying ticks, and a "biodiverse" assortment of weeds that can potentially produce allergy-related pollens and adversely affect human health.

Byrne also questions the practice of using leaf blowers to remove leaf litter because the decomposing leaves become nutrients for the trees and, "After all, that's how a natural forest works."

The University Park campus is not a natural forest; therefore it should not be managed as such.

Failure to remove leaf litter from turf areas will prohibit turfgrasses from performing photosynthesis, ultimately lead to the death of the stand, and expose bare soil.

While labor and energy inputs are certainly necessary for the maintenance of the University's turf areas, the functional and environmental benefits of these areas justify their costs.