Land Vision Council
Nathan
while back before we knew the bill would be pulled (for the time
being), but I thought it was worth bringing the conversation onto this
list for discussion:
Another thing to talk about is the land itself. If/when the state
revokes their reimbursement of the out of state portion of the waiver,
the school is going to try to privatize the land's use even further
and present that as a means with which to pay for the tuition waiver
(which indeed the law says it is supposed to).
They want to sublet it to ranchers to put more cows on and lease parts
of it for mineral, oil, and gas extraction. WE MUST NOT ACCEPT THIS!
That land has incredible potential to be transformed into a
permacultural education and research facility, using sustainable
agriculture to pay for the waiver in the event of the state's
revocation of the reimbursement.
There are unused houses out there. Thousands of acres. Habitat
restoration potential. All departments and all students would benefit
from such use. Ethnobotanists could study the return of native plants
during habitat restoration. Many departments could get involved in the
surveying of the land and testing of the soil and water. The business
and economics departments could help run the books and maintain
transparency. Etc. ad nauseum.
There is also the potential to take such a facility off the grid
(certainly the wind and solar energy potential on the land alone is
highly significant, and there are amazing federal and state level
grants available for such infrastructure at the moment) and sell the
excess power generated back to LPEA, which I believe they are required
by law to purchase.
ANY DEAL NEGOTIATED MUST NOT COMPROMISE THE HEALTH OF THIS LAND!
That was a boarding school once and the land itself holds the trauma
of what happened there. We cannot let the abuse continue further,
visited upon the land by the short-sightedness of the school
administration and lack of vision of the student body.
If we can present a plan that would put the land to good, positive,
educational use yet would also turn a profit to support the waiver and
school, how can they say no?
Though profitability comes first, FLC is also a particularly image
conscious school. We need to frame this in a way that lets them know
they can either look really good by allowing the students to do
something great with that land or really BAD by privatizing its use
further in an effort to support the waiver.
As students, alumni, faculty, workers, and community members, what do
YOU envision as the potential use of the old Fort Lewis campus land
near Hesperus?
Our ancestors and descendants are watching what we are doing here
today...
