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.
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.
“Our 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,” FLC President Dene Thomas said. “We 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.”
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.
“The land offers remarkable ecological and biological diversity, which is being used as a laboratory by the science programs at the college,” he said. “The historic and cultural history of the land offers anthropology and archaeology students a unique opportunity to study the past.”
The FLC Board of Trustees discussed the proposed turnover at its meeting in February, but its required approval won’t be voted on until its meeting April 1, when the agreement would go into effect.
“I’m impressed with the projects going on there,” Trustee Steve Short said, “and 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.”
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’s vice president of finance and administration. That will lead to a long-term strategic plan, which will be tied into the college’s strategic planning, which is currently underway.
“This is significant in terms of Fort Lewis’ heritage, from a historical perspective, where the college came from,” Short said, referring to the college’s early origins on the site in 1910-1911, when it became a public education institution.
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.
“Leases with private organizations, such as the Mesa Verde Helitack and Fort Lewis Mesa Fire Department (Protection District), do currently exist on the land,” Davis said. “These kinds of partnerships may continue in the future as long as they don’t conflict with FLC’s goals of education and research, and they benefit the community.”
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.
“We can start thinking creatively about what we can do on the campus,” Trustee John Wells said at the February meeting. “There are a lot of juniper trees everywhere on the property. Maybe we can start a gin distillery.”
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