{"id":106228,"date":"2016-03-15T15:48:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T21:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-to-control-hesperus-campus\/"},"modified":"2016-03-15T15:48:13","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T21:48:13","slug":"fort-lewis-college-to-control-hesperus-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-to-control-hesperus-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lewis College to control Hesperus campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Southwest
Southwest Conservation Corps members are reflected in a window of one of the historic buildings on the Old Fort Lewis College Campus in 201. For the first time in the college\u2019s history, FLC is now in control of its original site.<\/span>JERRY McBRIDE\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After more than 100 years, Fort Lewis College will finally assume full oversight over its Old Hesperus campus, a move that will increase educational opportunities for students and financial income for the college.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Colorado State Land Board, which has co-managed the property with FLC since 2013, unanimously approved a beneficiary use agreement, turning over the complete management of the 6,300-acre campus to FLC.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal in taking over the management of Old Fort Lewis is to plan a future for the land that holds true to its century-old mission: to be an institution of learning,\u201d FLC President Dene Thomas said. \u201cWe believe this goal means putting the educational needs of our students and the community first, and this agreement gives us more freedom to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last few years, the college has expanded its use of the Hesperus campus for academic purposes, FLC spokesman Mitch Davis said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land offers remarkable ecological and biological diversity, which is being used as a laboratory by the science programs at the college,\u201d he said. \u201cThe historic and cultural history of the land offers anthropology and archaeology students a unique opportunity to study the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FLC Board of Trustees discussed the proposed turnover at its meeting in February, but its required approval won\u2019t be voted on until its meeting April 1, when the agreement would go into effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m impressed with the projects going on there,\u201d Trustee Steve Short said, \u201cand the organic agricultural-production project. My wife and I have started going to the Old Fort Farm Stand on the current campus, and the vegetables and meat are just spectacular. I like to see things like this that have an educational component, hands-on practical learning and a defined benefit to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beth LaShell, the Old Hesperus campus coordinator, is working with an Old Fort Steering Committee to create an asset-management plan to manage the site, which has 240 acres under irrigation, said Steve Schwartz, the college\u2019s vice president of finance and administration. That will lead to a long-term strategic plan, which will be tied into the college\u2019s strategic planning, which is currently underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is significant in terms of Fort Lewis\u2019 heritage, from a historical perspective, where the college came from,\u201d Short said, referring to the college\u2019s early origins on the site in 1910-1911, when it became a public education institution.<\/p>\n

The financial side may offer real benefits to a school that has seen decreasing state funding for several years. The school, which has been splitting income from the property with the state land board, will now get the entire amount. While the income last year was $14,000, which will be plowed back into facilities on the Hesperus campus, there is potential for more.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeases with private organizations, such as the Mesa Verde Helitack and Fort Lewis Mesa Fire Department (Protection District), do currently exist on the land,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThese kinds of partnerships may continue in the future as long as they don\u2019t conflict with FLC\u2019s goals of education and research, and they benefit the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several board members are questioning the value of the Mad Hatter lease, which currently uses 1,500 acres of the property for elk research, Davis said. That lease expires in 2017. Within its enclosure are trees carved by Native Americans in the area who historically used them for food during severe droughts. Academics would like access for research, Schwartz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can start thinking creatively about what we can do on the campus,\u201d Trustee John Wells said at the February meeting. \u201cThere are a lot of juniper trees everywhere on the property. Maybe we can start a gin distillery.\u201d<\/p>\n

abutler@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

The Old Fort Farm Stand is generally open from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays from late June to late October near the Student Union. During the off-season, the stand is open once or twice a month with grass-fed beef, local pork and fresh greens from its high tunnels. Produce for the Old Fort Farm Stand is grown south of Hesperus at the Old Hesperus Campus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Historic agreement will allow more study, increase income<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5794,5735],"tags":[1737,4994,855,132,2037,13,2229],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-106228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-agricultural-research-and-technology","tag-anthropology","tag-archaeology","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-fort-lewis-mesa-fire-protection-district","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-old-fort-lewis-campus"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106228"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=106228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}