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September 27, 2016 Fall 2016 : Issue 2
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Celebrate the Wonders of Fall with the Environmental Center!
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"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower," Albert Camus
The EC is embracing the change of season. Although the weather is cooling down, we are constantly moving forward.
Each new season fosters new opportunities and ways for us to promote environmental ethics and special programming, and fall certainly calls for some harvest work and apple shenanigans.
Some (apple) pressing news:
- Growing Partners of SW Colorado 9th Annual Apple Days: Sunday, October 2 (11 - 4 pm @ Buckley Park)
- This event invites the entire Durango community to celebrate the joy of apples. There will be free apple tastings, local music and fun activities for all. The EC's Cream Bean Berry Apple Pie Ice cream, cider and local food. Oh my!
- EC Apple Craze Volunteer Opportunities:
- Wednesday, 9/28 (1-4 pm): Apple Pressing at the Old Fort Farm Stand, Student Union, FLC Campus
- Thursday, 9/29 (12:40-2:15p.m.): Crop Mob Community Apple Harvest
- Saturday, 10/1 (8:30 - 12:30 pm): Apple Days Apple Harvest
- Sunday, 10/2 (11 - 4 pm): CBB Apple Ice Cream at Apple Days!
Apple Craze is the brain child of the EC's Local Food Security Team! Volunteers can sign up in person at the Environmental Center, or for more information contact Zack Bauer at
zlbauer@fortlewis.edu
Beyond the harvest season activities, our students and staff are still hard at work on a bounty of other initiative work, and their specific initiatives can be found on the EC's
website. Check out how our amazing crew is taking small steps toward big changes.
Keep on Keepin' On,
Alexandra Lamb
Environmental Center, ENVS F'17
Media and Communications Manager
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Apple Days and the EC's Cream Bean Berry Apple Pie Ice Cream on Sunday!
The FLC Environmental Center and the Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado are excited to announce the 9th Annual Apple Days Festival this coming October 1st & 2nd featuring the EC's own line of Cream Bean Berry Apple Pie Ice Cream!
We invite you all to be part of this amazing community celebration! This fun, family friendly event has drawn over 2000 people in past years and provides a great way to give back while having fun! In addition to coming out on Sunday, October
2nd
to enjoy live music, an amazing community and apples, apples, apples, we also have some opportunities for volunteer engagement. As an added bonus, there will be free fresh-pressed apple juice for our volunteers! Check out ways to support this event below:
Apple Days Harvest and Pressing
: Every year, the Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado (of whom the EC is a founding and continuing member) will host their annual Apple Days Festival
on October 2nd
this year. The festival provides an opportunity for the community to gather and celebrate the TONS of apples that grow in our area through apple pressing, pie eating, music, games, and more. Sign up online at the Apple Days Volunteer Form or at the Environmental Center
When & Where:
Harvest 10/1. Meet at Buckley Park at 8:30 or 12:30; Festival on 10/2 from 11-4 at Buckley Park
Cost: Festival entrance is free with the option to purchase juice and ice cream
Thank you SO much to each of you for being active and engaged citizens and for helping the Environmental Center with some of these great projects. If you have any questions or need additional information, please don't hesitate to contact me at
rllandis@fortlewis.edu
or (970) 247-7091. Thank you again!
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The Local Food Security Team presents:
Campus Garden Workdays
Join the EC's Local Food Fellows every Wednesday and Thursday through November to work in our campus community garden.
Participants will learn about organic gardening and help us to bring in the harvest.
All community members are welcome to join in!
When: Wednesdays 11:15 - 1:30 pm or Thursdays 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Where: Meet at the EC five minutes before the meeting time, or join us out at the Campus Garden (North of the Center for SW Studies at the far North-East corner of the parking lot)
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Save the Date: EC's 25th Birthday and 15th Annual REEL Film Experience
Mark your calendars and come celebrate the EC with us!
We are celebrating 25 years of advancing sustainability throughout the region and graduating student leaders committed to creating social and environmental change at this years REEL Film Experience.
The night's theme is Creating A Climate for Change. Festivities will include the screening of several locally-produced climate shorts and the regional screening of the internationally acclaimed movie,
A Time to Choose.
Free food, a cash bar, birthday cake and a guaranteed-to-make-you-leave-feeling-good opportunity to take action round out this informative, inspirational and fun evening!
When: Saturday, November 5th. Doors open at 5:30 pm, screening begins at 6:00 pm
Where: FLC Community Concert Hall
Tickets:
- Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Durango Welcome Center or at the Community Concert Hall website: https://www.durangoconcerts.com/
- $12 in advance and $15 at the door; cost includes a light dinner.
- Children 12 & under are free.
- All proceeds benefit the FLC Environmental Center!
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Support the EC When You Shop at City Market
If you are a City Market shopper with a rewards card, you can use your grocery shopping to support the Environmental Center at no extra cost to you!
- Click on the Enroll Now button
- Create an account
- Register your City Market Value Card and when asked what organization you would like to support, type in Environmental Center and check the appropriate dialog box.
From then on out, City Market's Community Rewards program will make a donation to the Environmental Center each time that you make a purchase. Get your groceries and support the EC in one fell swoop-it's like getting your cake and eating it, too! (food pun intended)
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FLC's Food Focus Group Needs You!
We are very excited for this school year and hope to take our Food Focus group to the next level.
The mission of the Food Focus Group is to come together in a casual, solution minded atmosphere where we can be agents of change and set an example for other like-minded institutions as we move forward.
This group will have an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas that will build on our foundation to serve more local and quality food options, healthier choices and waste less in the process.
We will discuss/brainstorm new and exciting ways to create a dining environment where sustainability and our commitment to the Real Food Challenge are front and center.
The structure of the meeting is informal and collaborative, where all ideas are seeds for thought.
When: Meetings occur the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 5:00 pm
Where: The Piedra room, in San Juan Dining. Dinner is complimentary.
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EC Is Now a Southwest Seed Library Host Location
Come check out and plant some seeds!
As a part of our Local Food Security Initiative, the EC is proud to provide the SW Community Seed Library with a new home and invites everyone from the community to come and utilize this new and incredible resource.
Keep your eyes out for workshops and exchanges coming soon!
The purpose of the Southwest Seed Library is to:
- Provide free regional hardy seeds (food, herbs, flowers)
- Improve soil and food with knowledge of our earth
- Be a school for saving and sharing seeds
- Be a place to learn about growing in our challenging climate
- Be a connecting point between farmers, gardeners, and schools to share knowledge and resources for a stronger, healthier Southwest
- Be a long term Permaculture project that will grow with our community
- Empower for self-care and abundance
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Unused Ink Jets Available
Zero Waste your office! The EC has several unopened ink jets that are no longer needed. We would love to provide them with happy homes!
Email Marty at mlpool@fortlewis.edu if you can use any of the following ink jets:
- HP, LaserJet, 305A (Yellow, cyan, magenta)
- HP, color LaserJet, 4500-4550 (Cyan, Black, Magenta)
- HP, color LaserJet, C4194A, Yellow
- Epson, 252 standard-capacity, cyan, magenta, yellow
First come first serve. Once you contact Marty we'll set aside the ink jets for you to come pick up! |
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High Country News Available at the EC!
Copies of the High Country news are now available for free at the Environmental Center thanks to a donation by FLC Professor, Brad Clark.
Please come by and pick up your copy today to keep in the know about relevant environmental and social news on the Colorado Plateau.
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Rooted will return next time! Be sure to keep an eye out.
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Multi Modal Transportation Master Plan
Durango is having the last
public input meeting for the 2016 Multi Modal Transportation Master Plan update before the public draft is released.
Refreshments will be provided, thanks to Durango Brewing Company!
At this meeting we will be taking input on all things multi modal and the East 2nd Ave signalization project.
Please share this information with anyone you think is interested in improving multi modal transportation options and our transportation system.
When: Thursday, September 29 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Where: Durango Brewing Company
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Comment on the Hermosa Creek Watershed plan!
San Juan Citizen's Alliance invites you to submit your comments
Nearly two years ago, a tireless and diverse grassroots effort to secure protections for a local watershed culminated in the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act. Now the draft management plan is available for comment.
This community secured incredible protections for the Hermosa Creek watershed. Take a moment to make sure it is done right. The SJCA asks you now to
In an effort to encourage more meaningful comments, we're experimenting with a new approach. Rather than create a pre-written letter, we are asking you to write a short personal letter drawing on talking points from our analysis. We've also created a blog detailing our concerns in more depth. We believe taking a few extra minutes to type the comments in your own words will translate into greater consideration by the Forest Service.'
Thanks for helping us ensure a strong finish to this successful collaborative process.
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Durango Green Drinks
A great chance to get your networking on and meet other rad folks in the environmental and sustainability fields here in town.
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Volunteer with Outdoor Pursuits and Trails 2000
Trails 2000 is Durango's local non-profit trail maintenance outfit, and Outdoor Pursuits is planning a volunteer evening to help out! Join them to
do some good work in our community and meet up with fellow students who are passionate about the outdoors and being stewards of our public lands.
Students will only need to bring work clothes and water. Trails 2000 provides tools, gloves, and instruction.
When: Thursday,
October 6 from
4:00 pm until dark
Where: Horse Gulch Trail system (probably meeting down at the bottom)
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Rio Grande National Forest - Forest Plan Public Meetings
MONTE VISTA, Colo. - The Rio Grande National Forest will hold three public meetings during the last week of September to present and discuss the Proposed Action for the forest plan revision. The Proposed Action is the first step in the formal plan development stage of the revision process.
The Proposed Action is not a proposed plan; the public will help develop the proposed plan through input on the Proposed Action. Public input will also help identify issues and develop alternatives to the proposed plan that will be analyzed in the draft environmental impact statement.
The forest plan is the overarching document that guides all management decisions and activities on the entire Rio Grande National Forest, including activities such as preservation of cultural and historic resources, grazing, timber production, recreation, wildlife management, firewood cutting and gathering of special forest products.
When/Where:
Presentations and discussion are scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for each meeting. Light refreshments will be provided.
- Tuesday, September 27, at the Saguache County Road and Bridge Building, 305 3rd Street, Saguache.
- Wednesday, September 28, at the South Fork Community Building, 254 State Highway 149, South Fork.
- Thursday, September 29, North Conejos School District board room, 17890 US Highway 285, La Jara.
For more information: visit the Rio Grande National Forest website at
http://www.fs.usda.gov/riogrande
and click on the forest plan revision link or contact Mike Blakeman at the Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor's Office at
719-852-6212
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West Slope
EE Conference
Bringing Colorado's EE Plan to Life
Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) invites you to j
oin environmental education (EE) providers and supporters from agencies, nonprofits, schools, and environmental, nature, conservation fields for an engaging summit.
Join us to learn more about the Colorado Environmental Education Plan, network and share ideas, and find inspiration from innovative EE leaders.
When: Friday, October 7th 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Where:
Ridgway State Park Group Event Facility,
located in
Pa-Co-Chu-Puk area of the park
Cost:
$45 members/ $55 nonmembers
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CMU Upper Colorado River Basin Water Forum
COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN FLUX: Changing Relationships between Water, People and the Environment
The 2016 forum will seek to generate new insights into the dynamics of the coupled natural and human systems that coexist in the Colorado River Basin.
Keynote Speakers:
Jack Schmidt, Professor of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University;
Tom Buschatzke, Director, Arizona Department of Water Resources.
When: Wednesday & Thursday, November 2 & 3
Where: Colorado Mesa University: University Center - Main Campus, Grand Junction, CO
Cost: $60 - $160 (depending on days attended and if a current student)
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