warren wilson college habitat final

Warren Wilson College Asheville, North Carolina

Habitat Restoration: Forest, Farm and Landscaping

SCHOOL

Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a four-year private liberal arts college located on 1,100 acres of picturesque rivers, ridgelines, rolling forest and farmland in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville, North Carolina. The college enrolls 900 students, employs 200 staff and faculty, and offers Bachelor Degrees in 43 majors and concentrations, and 26 minors. GOALS AND OUTCOMES

Warren Wilson College has been closely connected to the surrounding land since its beginning as an agricultural school. Its lands extend far beyond the built environment of central campus into the riches of the Swannanoa river valley, including 1,100 acres of forests, the floodplain of the river, and the cultivated farm and garden. The cache of open space allows ample opportunity for wildlife habitat restoration. The fundamental, encompassing goal of habitat restoration at Warren Wilson College is to minimize the college’s impacts on the greater ecosystem, requiring cooperation between the farm, garden, forest and all other wildlife and conservation initiatives. These members of the community are working toward a shared goal to protect and enhance the natural environment and wildlife on Warren Wilson lands. All land use practices seek to adhere to the college’s mission. Invasive species removal, the cultivation of endangered species, and the preservation of endemic species are among the most critical goals.

Land Use The Long Range Land Use committee is currently in the process of updating the Long Range Land Use Plan (LRLUP). The integral land use planning objective at Warren Wilson, stated in the approved 2007 Process Document, is to “ensure that land use practices honor the College’s mission and its pattern language principles while providing the flexibility to accommodate change over time and respond to new conditions.” The LRLUP outlines guiding principles and priorities and defines three zones of planning that will be layered on a GIS map. These zones include “sacred sites” and view sheds where no building will occur, buildings and sites that are not being used to their fullest and most efficient potential, and sites that will be further evaluated and researched for reconfiguration.

Farm Farmland inherently allows wildlife to thrive. Wildlife diversity is encouraged by open space, forested land, grasses, grain crops, riparian areas, and wetlands. The Warren Wilson farm is taking specific measures to restore and maintain wildlife habitat on the farm. Hedges criss-cross open farmland and are also corridors that link areas of woodland. Hedgerows are being maintained in open areas to create habitat, cut to a width wide enough to maintain wildlife but narrow enough to prevent encroachment. This is an example of how conservation biology and the college farm are working together for mutual gain. Mowing is delayed in areas that have been specified for ground nesting birds. As a counter, mowing is done earlier in the season in some areas to prevent initial nesting so that birds won’t be killed as mowing continues. As cattle can pose a risk to water quality and aquatic

National Wildlife Federation • Campus Ecology • 2009 2

life, Warren Wilson cattle have been fenced out of the river and streams. Manure is covered in the winter in the hay feeding shed to reduce leaching. This year, the Forbat site has been placed into a continuous conservation reserve program (CCRP). This program focuses on using grasses, trees, and wetlands to protect soil, improve air and water quality and to enhance fish and wildlife habitat through the use of buffers, filter strips, windbreaks, and wildlife corridors. The site’s six acres, managed by the farm, will be solely used for wildlife management and will never be used for agricultural purposes. The site includes a wetland, a forest, a river edge, and cool season grasses. Warm season grasses are going to be planted as well, to provide a wider range of habitat.

Rotational grazing

of Warren Wilson

cattle

Forest Warren Wilson is endued with forests that serve as a buffer and lend a depth of character to the landscape. Shawn Schwartz, the college’s forest manager, refers to forest management at Warren Wilson as “ecosystem management” that aims to encourage diversity of ages, species and structure in the forest; the value of forest diversity ascends that of production. The sylvan environment is managed by the guidance of four main objectives, which are listed in priority and include:

• Protection and enhancement of the forest resources

• Use of forest resources for education and research

• Maintenance of the forests for aesthetic and recreational purposes

• Utilization of wood products from forest resources used for the community The Natural Resources Crew is a student work crew of 20 students who are responsible for maintaining 17 miles of forested trails and for managing the college forests. The responsibilities of the crew include all silvicultural practices, trail maintenance, producing more than 20 cords of firewood for the community annually, and generating revenue through non-timber forest products. Silvicultural practices include:

• Control and eradication of invasive species


• Pre-commercial thinning, or “thinning from below” to reduce the density of crowded trees and give the young remaining trees more room to grow

� Trees designated for growth are marked and those trees threatening to outcompete them are removed

• Prescribed burning to maintain and restore important ecosystem functions and structures

• Enrichment building � Native seed nursery � Underrepresented native species planting including Black Locus, River Birch,

Persimmon, White Ash and Sycamore � Partnership with the American Chestnut Foundation to conduct research on recent

breeding techniques for blight resistance to restore the American Chestnut to its native range

• Sawmill, air-drying barn, and draft horses used for low impact harvesting

• Firewood split by hand or with the aid of a small hydraulic splitter

• Non-timber forest products to generate revenue � Shitake, Oyster, Maitake, and Morel mushrooms grown in forest � Ginseng, Goldenseal and Bloodroot grown in forests

The forest is managed in ways that create, protect and restore wildlife habitat restoration. These management practices include:

• Small patch cuts for early succession species (bird species, quail, grouse, deer, turkey)

• A wildlife plot to protect edge habitat on the Fortune Property

• Felling at 3 feet and below to return nutrients to the forest floor more rapidly

• Understory being opened in both the Pine Forest and the Fortune Property

• One in filled pond on campus is being dredged for the benefit of a salamander species that lives there

• Snags selected and left standing for wildlife habitat

• Potential creation of sampling grid for the forest to monitor and take inventory of forest wildlife

• New policy being written for forest and wildlife based Natural Science Seminar student research projects with objective to include forest managers in the supervision and advising of projects to better connect and utilize research


Warren

Wilson

College’s

Natural

Resource

Crew at

work

building the

Home

Coming

bonfire with

slag waste

from the on-

campus saw

mill.

Landscaping Warren’s Wilson’s core campus is comprised of 60 acres which are managed by the Landscaping work crew. All techniques employed by landscaping aim to be low-maintenance, environmentally sound, and aesthetically pleasing. The landscaping work crew’s driving force is to reduce the fossil fuel input associated with landscaping practices. Some low impact practices include:

• Applying permaculture principles to landscape design to mimic naturally occurring, self sufficient ecosystems by applying ecology and observation of the land

• Using locally milled and recycled wood for mulching

• Reducing formal grassy areas to minimize fuel and fertilizer input and applying organic turf management on those formal grassy areas still necessary

� Composted poultry waste (NPK ratio of 4:2:3 and 75 percent water insoluble) is used as fertilizer

• Mowers converted to propane

• Traditional weeding

• Significantly reducing the need for herbicides and pesticides through the use of integrated pest management (IPM)

� IPM utilizes information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment in combination with pest control methods that are least damaging to people and the environment

• Using completely biodegradable Bare Ground de-icer

• Using biodegradable soy-based oil in place of bar oil to lubricate chainsaws The other encompassing goal is to preserve the unique biodiversity of western North Carolina by incorporating native plants in landscaping design, which inherently supports wildlife habitat. Native


plants are already adapted to the particularities of a place, and are therefore much more beneficial to the ecosystem than introduced invasive, species. In 1998 the Native Grasses Crew began as a sect of Landscaping and is responsible for gathering native plants and wildflowers and growing them in the greenhouse. The landscaping crew maintains and manages a number of sites on campus. The Arboretum field is one of three sites in western North Carolina contracted with the Forest Service to host a grant project. The project’s objective was to set up a nursery to better understand the feasibility of a native grass nursery in Western North Carolina. It was monitored for two years and has continued to be used for seed collection and identification purposes. Landscaping has joined the North Carolina Fish and Wildlife Plant Rescue Program to rescue the threatened Frasier’s Loose Strife that was growing on the roadside. The Loose Strife has been transplanted to the Arboretum field. Loose strife has been the subject of many student research projects. $1200 was paid to the college from the rescue program, and there is the potential for a grant to student Loose Strife propagation. Fringe habitats for wildlife have been created on the edge of the soccer fields as well as on the forest edge outside of the Orr Cottage (see Building Design case study). The addition of native grasses to various core campus plots will predictably result in bird and butterfly habitat. Butterflies have already been attracted to the native garden planted outside of the science buildings. Several landscaping projects from the annual campus-wide Work Day, 2008, include:

• Several dump truck loads of introduced species, namely Bittersweet, cleared from area surrounding the on-campus swim pond

• Pond built and native vegetation planted during the 2008 work day in areas surrounding the newly constructed Village dormitories (see Building Design case study)

Planting native

grasses at Work

Day


Commentary and Reflection

Warren Wilson College is committed to trying to achieve close-loop sustainability whenever and wherever possible. Ecological landscape design is being applied to the built environment to enhance, while the forests, farm and garden are being managed for habitat restoration and sustainable harvesting. Collaborative habitat restoration efforts are occurring more and more frequently, drawing from the knowledge and experience of a wealth of experts working, teaching and living on campus. ENGAGEMENT AND SUPPORT

The Warren Wilson farm and garden, forests, and landscape are all supported through the college by the work program. Students and staff work together and offer their research and labor to benefit the community. CONTACTS Contacts

Chase Hubbard, Farm Manager, 828-771-3014, [email protected] Thomas La Muraglia, Warren Wilson College Landscaping, 828-771-3753, [email protected] Shawn Swartz, Forest Manager, 828-771-6131, [email protected] Louise Weber, Chair of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies 828-771-3071, [email protected] Case study submitted by: Stan Cross, Education Director, Environmental Leadership Center of Warren Wilson College, 828-771-3782, [email protected]

MORE ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL

The mission of Warren Wilson College (WWC) is to provide an education combining liberal arts study, work and service with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and experiential opportunities for international and cross-cultural understanding in a setting that promotes wisdom, spiritual growth, and contribution to the common good. A distinctive aspect of WWC is the Triad. The Triad is learning framework that includes academics, work and service learning. Each student is required to work 15 hours per week on work crews that are essential to the daily operation of the College, perform 100 hours of community service, and meet all academic expectations. WWC’s commitment to sustainability has evolved over decades, and is an authentic outcome of the engaged, place-based learning that the Triad framework enables (for a comprehensive look at our campus greening history visit www.warren-wilson.edu/~elc/sustainability). Sustainability is a term we have come to understand at WWC in this way- sustainable practices take into account the environmental, social/cultural, and economic impacts of decisions. Sustainable practices seek to balance and honor all three areas. They are practices that will eventually insure quality of life on a planet we all want to live on, for all people, for generations to come.

warren wilson college habitat final

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