Maintaining the Campus Habitat |
| Spring 2002: Matthew Clark, Mac Glovinsky, Kiya Gornick, Gwenn Kubeck, Charles Train
During this semester, our footprint group has attempted to accomplish three goals. Our first goal is to increase the awareness within the Lewis and Clark community about the resource at hand in the trails found all around our beautiful campus. In order to do this, we intend to make maps available outlining the usable trails found in the ravine adjacent to our campus. Among the trails, there are some parts that are less accessible to the general public due to poor maintenance. Our second goal is to create a comprehensive outline of the areas of the campus perimeter trail that need upkeep in order to be fully accessible. In addition to these goals, our group also intends to leave a more tangible piece of evidence of our involvement with the perimeter trail by creating signs that point out some of the entrances and exits to the perimeter trial. Not only will we get to leave our mark, but signs will contribute to accomplishing our first goal by pointing out to passer-byers the option of a stroll through the woods. Lewis and Clark College is situated amongst some very beautiful and unique land, most of which has been either paved or developed in Portland’s short history. The remaining undeveloped pieces of natural forest serve as integral parts of the community, providing many different types of people with a place for recreation, education and relaxation. Access to these natural areas is extremely important concerning education, for awareness of the environment is founded in interaction. Here at Lewis and Clark we are extremely fortunate in having Tryon Creek State park just across the road, where students and members of the community can explore and relax, not to mention conduct a variety of experiments in disciplines ranging from hydrology to biology. Also at the immediate access of the students and faculty is the ravine, where a number of trails allow people to spend time experiencing the unique forests of the northwest, specifically Portland. The ravine has been a place where a good amount of time and energy is spent by the Lewis and Clark community. There have been various events that have built and strengthened the community, ranging from ivy pulls to student organized ecology experiments. Much volunteer activity has shaped the ravine as a place where people feel they can go to exercise or just walk around and soak in the tranquility that the ravine provides in comparison to chaotic dorm or office life. Unfortunately, the ravine is not as accessible to students, and the larger L&C community as it could be. The trails in the ravine are often overgrown by the persistent ivy that floods our landscape, making following a trail somewhat difficult. Also, Portland’s rainy winters create very muddy and erosion-conducive conditions, which make trying to walk on the trails a slippery and dangerous endeavor. Trails can also become easily degraded when walkers or riders try to persevere the rainy and muddy conditions in attempts to experience the outdoors. Consequently, there is much room for improvement concerning the campus trails. By improving our access to the ravine area, as well as improving and preserving the ecosystem that the ravine encloses, we could increase the number of options that the Lewis and Clark community could enjoy through educational or recreational appreciation for the nature which abounds our backyard. A very important issue concerning campus trails in the ravine in particular is the amount of awareness there is of the opportunities that the ravine provides. It seems that people are often too busy or stressed out to be aware of the multitude of luxuries that the ravine provides. To increase awareness of the ravine’s trails our group found that the most efficient methods of letting people know of the opportunities that the ravine provides were basically by word of mouth, or better yet, taking people into the ravine to let them experience the surrounding environment themselves. This proves better than any flier or leaflet; the experience of the ravine is far more memorable than any map of it. In order to explore the potential of our campus trails, our footprint group looked to other colleges and universities across the nation for examples. We found a variety of schools that actively benefited from their proximity and access to natural space in an assortment of ways. Among those that showed the greatest utilization of their surrounding areas, two particularly unique colleges stood out. These were the University Of California at Santa Cruz and Bard College. At UC Santa Cruz there are extensive trail networks that cover over 25 miles of varying terrain. The school actually built on a nature reserve, and there are even mountain lion warning signs on the trails in between dorms. The comprehensive trail system provides endless recreational and educational opportunities for the students and faculty of the College. The mapping of the trails is quite elaborate as well, and the college prides itself on the superior jogging and running that it’s environment provides. At Bard College land is utilized in a different, yet equally as beneficial way. In order to provide more environmental educational opportunities in and around it campus, Bard has created an educational field station in a natural preserve adjacent to the school grounds. Situated on the Hudson River, the Bard College Field station allows students to study the varying ecosystems that surround the school while actually being immersed in the ecosystem instead of a classroom. Bard also has a vast network of trails that travel through wooded areas to access different parts of its campus. Students are able to use this system of resources to create experiments that directly aid in the study of ecological principles. At Bard and UC Santa Cruz, the environment is utilized to create awareness and education by immersion and experience, providing a better educational experience to students and an overall benefit in environmental awareness in the community. It is very important for Lewis and Clark to take good measure from these examples that other institutions across the nation provide. We need to improve community access to natural areas, particularly the ravine, in order to increase the awareness and appreciation that our natural undeveloped areas deserve. By maintaining trails people are encouraged to venture into the ravine, consequently creating an awareness of the immediate ecosystem we are situated within. It is important that we commit ourselves to maintaining and preserving the quality of he ecosystems that exist in the ravine especially, so that that natural space can be used as an experiential educational too. In order to do these things, information distribution, by form of map and pamphlets is wholly important. Most important of all however, is the need for individuals who know the endless benefits that our natural surroundings provide to enlighten those who don’t. Take your neighbor for a walk. Have lunch with your professor in the ravine. It is essential that we all learn the lessons that are waiting for us right outside. |