We must defend the land from private profiteering interests!
dirty...@riseup.net
FLC studies Hesperus campus
http://www.cortezjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=29&SubSectionID=137&ArticleID=9344&TM=64115.66
FLC�s punch list
If Fort Lewis College wants to lease its old campus in Hesperus, there are
many issues that will have to be addressed:
� The current observatory is not allowed under the existing lease with
Colorado State University, so improvements such as adding a bathroom could
be needed. Other uses, such as commercial hunting, and a volunteer fire
department and helicopter fire suppression crew in Old Fort buildings
would have to be written into lease agreements.
� A new potable water system is needed, which could cost about $100,000.
� Several hundred thousand dollars for electrical system upgrades are needed.
� A catalog of historical buildings and cultural aspects is needed.
� Regular Boy Scout, Cub Scout and 4-H meetings would have to be formalized.
� Several buildings require asbestos remediation, and the land board has
expressed a desire to verify that all buildings at the Old Fort are safe
to occupy.
� No private subleases would be allowed, as was done with the bull test
site under CSU.
~
Fort Lewis College likely won't be alone if it moves into its former
campus in Hesperus after Colorado State University moves out in June.
With so much money needed to improve the property, both the college and
its prospective landlord - the state land board - agree: FLC will require
some help.
"We all realize we have to make money off the land," said Ken Francis, the
head of the FLC task force that is trying to figure out what to do with
the land. "Particularly with the dire state financial situation. Whatever
the college does on the Hesperus Trust lands will have to be
self-sustainable."
The land board is facing a decrease of $21 million in revenue during 2010,
about a quarter of the board's income. In the first year, the college
would need at least a half-million dollars, probably more, for salaries
and improvements to electrical and water systems.
Budget problems and a dispute with the land board led CSU to announce in
September that it was phasing out operations at the site, after nearly 100
years of involvement there. The university's seven other research centers
have faced cutbacks and layoffs for years, but Hesperus is the only one
set to close in response to a 5 percent cut to higher education in
Colorado this year.
Brownell Bailey, director of the land board, said although the board's
revenue is projected to fall by about a quarter in 2010, his efforts to
generate income on the property are primarily about resuming good
stewardship practices.
"This isn't somebody's private playpen," he said. "This isn't the Wild
West. For years, (CSU officials have) been operating like they don't have
a lease - like it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission."
The board's budget problem is primarily the result of declining mineral
production. In light of the forecasted drop, the land board is
consolidating its agricultural properties to make way for multiple uses,
and incorporating more commercial development.
In turn, FLC is looking for partners as it develops plans for a "western
campus field station" at the 6,279-acre site, currently the home of the
CSU's San Juan Basin Research Center and private nonprofit, the Elk
Research Institute. Among the proposed uses are grazing, hay farming and
hunting. Parties interested in building a solar farm at the Old Fort have
contacted the school, Francis said, and others are looking to drill for
natural gas.
Bailey said he's talked with a man who wants to run a flight school on the
property.
His office is now negotiating a rental fee agreement with the Elk Research
Institute. Francis said the school is still opposed to the controversial
nonprofit, but he said the school's primary concern is now with the
institute generating revenue for FLC's Native American students.
FLC also holds the rights to 13.6 cubic feet per second of water from the
La Plata River, which intersects the property, and the Taylor and Lory
springs. Francis said the school will seek to lease water rights to
ranchers who use the land.
Money the land board raises from the Hesperus land goes to the Hesperus
Trust, which is used for FLC's free tuition program for Native American
students. It has raised $5,000 over the last five years, and just $8 in
2008. Bailey said that wasn't good enough.
The director of CSU's research center told members of a Fort Lewis task
force they can expect to pay $320,000 in salaries and operating costs each
year, but only after spending several hundred thousand on needed
improvements. And CSU paid no rent on the parcel since 1981. The land
board is insisting on modified leases that include a rental fee.
The Colorado State Land Board manages 3 million acres of land and 4
million acres of mineral rights in Colorado, for the benefit of eight
trusts. The lands are leased out for specific purposes, such as grazing,
recreation, farming and oil and gas. The land board is charged with
ensuring that tenants generate "reasonable and consistent" income from
their properties. Most of the money raised goes to K-12 education.
CSU has been the tenant at Hesperus since 1956, when FLC moved to Durango.
FLC has maintained an active presence on the property, dispatching student
interns to work with CSU staff, and holding classes and public events on
the land.
Francis said Fort Lewis has long wanted an expanded role at its historic
former campus, originally a frontier army outpost and later a boarding
school for Native American children.
Mitch Davis, spokesman for FLC, said the college's task force is
developing a plan for the proposed campus but wants the school to be "at
the table" with the land board when decisions are made.
He said establishing a western campus in Hesperus is one of the college's
main priorities, but Bailey, with the land board, is skeptical the school
will be able to finance the project.
"Is Fort Lewis an ag school?" Bailey said. "Do they have the resources
that CSU has?"
----
Common ground found in Hesperus
FLC officials tout new cooperation with state over Old Fort campus
Friday, November 19, 2010
http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20101120/NEWS01/711209991/0/s/Common-ground-found-in-Hesperus
Fort Lewis College has its work cut out in Hesperus.
That was the message shared by college administrators and members of the
Colorado State Land Board who met Friday to brief each other on the
progress each has made converting management duties of the school�s
historic campus in Hesperus.
A number of issues remain � drafting a management plan, negotiating a
troublesome sublease and investing in desperately needed capital
improvements � but a new FLC president and a new State Land Board director
seem to have found common ground.
A priority Friday was addressing the economic feasibility of FLC�s plans
for the 6,279-acre site, which once housed the Indian boarding school FLC
traces its roots to.
An ad hoc group called the Old Fort Task Force recently completed drafting
its vision, drawing heavily on the ideals of sustainable agriculture.
The task force completed inventories of native plants and buildings on the
property, and secured partnerships with a number of local organizations
and governments.
But missing from the task force�s vision was a connection to financial
reality, said Steve Schwartz, FLC�s vice president for finance and
administration.
�Some of it was just pie-in-the-sky,� Schwartz said. �It just wasn�t
realistic when we crunched the numbers.�
So Schwartz on Friday touted the new Old Fort Feasibility Committee, which
replaces the task force. The new committee has been broken into
subcommittees addressing finances, academics, community uses and deferred
maintenance. It has until March to create a management plan.
But requiring immediate attention are several historic buildings and the
site�s outdated electrical and sewer systems, which may need to be
completely revamped.
FLC takes over the site from Colorado State University. The college was a
part of CSU�s statewide system until 2002, when it became an independent
institution with its own Board of Trustees. Since then, the college�s role
in Hesperus has been less than clear.
Because of the provisions of its lease with the land board, CSU was
charged with generating �reasonable and consistent� revenue. The revenue
is supposed to pay the free tuition offered to Native American students.
Last year, CSU abruptly announced it was shuttering the station because of
a state budget crunch and changes in the agricultural industry.
Since CSU packed up and left in June, the land board appointed a new
acting director, Tobin Follenweider, and FLC appointed a new president,
Dene Kay Thomas.
In Follenweider, the school has found a partner, Schwartz said. �We�re
making some great progress right now.�
Follenweider stressed Friday that CSU has not been released from its
obligations in Hesperus and is still technically the tenant.
Friday, it was agreed FLC would pursue a direct lease with the land board
that will run until 2017, but not until it submits its management plan.
The school currently has a temporary access permit, which the land board
on Friday agreed to renew through June.