The Spring 2017 ES401 B class project is to develop a model, or demonstration, landscape that can support multiple ecological and socio-economic values.

Students are partnered with the College Office of Sustainability Integration, which comes under the umbrella of Environmental Affairs. The landscape students are modeling is comprised of the roughly 3,000 acres of College-owned lands in the Champlain Valley (not including the main campus and in-town real estate).

The land values previously identified as being important to the Champlain Valley socio-ecological system are water quality maintenance and enhancement, biological diversity conservation, agriculture/food production, forest products, and energy generation. This list is not exhaustive and students will assuredly expand and refine it as they more deeply consider the functions, processes and values of the lands. We also conceive of some “overlying” values that many of us here consider when we think of the land—resilience, recreation, and aesthetics.

To read the full project description, click here.