Addressing Critical Needs

We know housing and commercial development in Western North Carolina is encroaching on the open spaces and natural communities.

我们知道，气候变化对低收入社区和有色人种社区的影响更大。

We know we need people who can deftly navigate the ecological, social, and economic realities of protecting our changing world and that inclusivity is at the heart of finding those solutions.

We know these things because Warren Wilson College has provided a leading Environmental Studies Program since the 1970s. We’ve turned knowledge into action through initiatives such asZero Waste,Real Food, andPresidents’ Climate Commitment.

We now have the opportunity to define and implement a curriculum in which the College campus itself can become the delivery system for, and the direct focus of, our academic programming.

A Regional Model

在阿巴拉契亚和世界各地的土地所有者都有自己的混合用途景观，在很多情况下，他们要靠自己的土地谋生。许多土地被迫出售给开发商，进一步破坏了景观，增加了碳排放，减少了生物多样性。

Under theDean of Land Resources, we are developing a model by creating new resources for landowners. And, we are reaching out to engage local, national, and international stakeholders in sustainable, economically viable innovative land stewardship.

We are contributing to the knowledgebase of sustainable land management by testing the economic viability of current operations and measuring the sustainability of not-yet-tested new ideas.

土地创新计划的目标不仅仅是“做有效的事”，而是“观察有效的事”，并将这些信息广泛地传播给土地所有者。

A Unique Position

北卡罗莱纳西部的蓝岭山脉是世界上生物多样性最丰富的非热带地区之一。气候变化威胁着独特的山地小气候，这是几种濒危物种仅存的家园。该地区令人难以置信的生物多样性的丧失具有潜在的毁灭性能力。

蓝岭山脉不仅需要保护，而且需要研究什么行动能真正起到帮助作用。实际上，土地所有者需要实践的例子，使保护对他们来说成为经济上可行的选择。

Nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Warren Wilson College is uniquely placed to meet these challenges. On our more than 1,100 acres of farm, garden, and forest, students work and conduct original research every day. Hundreds of hands and minds mean hundreds of potential solutions.

我们在气候行动中发挥领导作用的独特能力在于我们的生活实验室和应用学习模式。这里有无与伦比的研究、行动和领导的机会。

Warren Wilson students learn approaches to mitigating the effects of climate change and managing an integrated landscape, and they do it with hands-on action. They’re not only preserving our own land for generations to come, their work is affecting the entire region. Students will leave Warren Wilson College as applied thinkers and capable agents of change no matter where they land or what issues they address.

Building Our Model

The first step in being a leader in sustainable and innovative land management was to begin to build our model.

Non-Timber Forest Products

In order to prevent deforestation – and carbon increases as a result – landowners need a forestry model that is economically viable.

We have a model to show them. For several decades now, we have used the College Forest to develop innovative ways to make profitable forestry a reality through non-timber forest products.

最近的实验确定了有效的野生药用植物繁殖技术，这些植物在过去被过度采伐几乎灭绝，包括人参、野生姜、白毛茛、黑升麻和坡地。我们已经开始向公众出售这些“从种子保证”的幼苗，并分发给土地所有者。This program is supported, in part, by the Clabough Foundation:www.claboughfoundation.com

事实证明，一些非木材森林产品比其他产品更有生命力，但这是问题的一部分。土地所有者没有时间和资源去试验并找出有效的方法，但在你们的帮助下，我们可以。在学生解决困难，并通过实验简化过程后，我们可以向土地所有者展示已证明有利可图的林业模式，并防止该地区的森林砍伐。

Carbon-Neutral Cattle

Because livestock farming usually produces a very large carbon footprint, we are using several regenerative farming methods in an effort to reduce that footprint.

While most farms specialize in either growing crops or farming livestock, at Warren Wilson all of the grains students grow on our land are kept on the farm to feed the animals. We will test the carbon sequestration in the soil of our regenerative agriculture and rotational grazing techniques in order to mitigate the carbon footprint of our farm and determine whether it’s possible to have a carbon-neutral cattle operation.

We’re operating as a regenerative model in the Southeast for an integrated crop and livestock system.

Climate Change Gardens

We recently established the Warren Wilson College Phenology Stewardship Program to contribute phenological observations and research to the USA National Phenology Network. We established several phenology garden plots and a phenological monitoring trail on campus to serve as long-term research locations. Students and faculty observe and track seasonal changes in select plants growing on these plots and trails. They are encouraging community members to get involved, take the training, and become “citizen scientists,” contributing to global climate change research.

“Ultimately, it’s our hope that this kind of work – in dedicated research plots and through our ‘citizen science’-focused phenology trail – will help us to answer some of these questions that I think are really pressing, as we consider how our wild places may change as the climate changes.” – Biology Professor Alisa Hove, Ph.D.

Plan for the Future

Help us experiment and take risks. With your help, we can undertake the following initiatives:

• A Commercial Kitchen to produce our own value-added non-timber forest products, garden products, and farm products in-house—not only saving processing costs and reducing our carbon footprint, but also providing teaching and learning opportunities for students and our community
• 建立一个土地研究所，为区域、国家和国际的土地规划、多样化、管理、保护和发展建立一个研究和咨询中心。
• Conservation to explore easements and other long-term conservation methods.
• New academic programs to explore new programs in land management, climate change solutions, and conservation biology.
• Green Entrepreneurship to build an academic program that combines our environmental studies program paired with a new business major to inspire innovation and new green businesses.
• Renewable energy for equipment including solar farm equipment and solar fields.