Master Plan and Feasibility Study for 4 Winds: Part1

Master Plan and Feasibility Study for

7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Prepared by Russell Wallack and Cary White The Conway School • Spring 2015

Index Introduction...........................................................1 Historic Context..............................................................2 Changing Climate............................................................3 Existing Conditions.........................................................4 Views Analysis.................................................................5 Slopes Analysis................................................................6 Hydrology Analysis..........................................................7 Vegetation Analysis........................................................8 Soil Analysis....................................................................9 Sun/Shade Analysis........................................................10 Building Analysis.............................................................11 Agricultural Analysis......................................................12 Schematic Plan...............................................................13 Activity Zone Zoom-in...................................................14 Medicinal Plants.............................................................15 Native Edible Plants.......................................................16 Agricultural Planning.....................................................17 Irrigation..............................................................18 Silvopasture........................................................19 Alley Cropping...............................................................20 Precedents..........................................................21 Haney Test Results........................................................22 Acknowledgments and Works Cited............................23

Extractive practices such as mining are based on assumptions of limitless natural resources.

The 4 Winds property offers an opportunity for a return to a more sustainable human relationship to the earth in a classic Coloradan Landscape.

The 4 Winds Vision for Regeneration Today, a changing climate and dwindling water resources in the American West make it all the more important to return to this respectful attitude towards the landscape, its limits, and its potentials. Through well-informed management of the site’s vegetation, soils, and water, the 4 Winds stakeholders hope to not only restore the productive capacity of the land but also build the resilience of these ecosystems and their ability to support human life. In doing so, they hope to not only provide for themselves, but also offer an alternative path for development in the region.

With backgrounds in science, business, land management, and the healing arts, the founding stakeholders of the 4 Winds project hope to offer a diversity of learning opportunities, health services, and research into regionally adapted food and medicine production strategies. Within the 4 Winds property the stakeholders would like to: • Demonstrate diverse agricultural methods such as herb production, vermiculture, greenhouses, and agroforestry techniques.

• Train clients, visitors, and interns in cultivation arts such as qi qong, tai chi, kung fu, and yoga.

• Offer alternative healing techniques such as acupuncture, massage, somatic trauma therapy, and herbalism.

• Provide classroom, conference, and hands-on learning opportunities in medicinal herb production, permaculture design, and wildcrafting.

• Build three houses that demonstrate sustainable practices such as solar energy production and passive solar homes, for a community of permanent residents.

Master Plan & Feasibility Study To help bring their vision to fruition, 4 Winds, has sought the help of a team from the Conway School to create a schematic master plan for the property. The main objective of this master plan is to study the existing physical and ecological conditions of 4 Winds and use that information to guide the schematic layout of: • A healing and education center • Agricultural processing facilities • A variety of agricultural spaces for greenhouse production, vermiculture, community vegetable gardening, herb cultivation, and experimental agricultural techniques like agroforestry and permaculture • At least 8 acres of horse pastures • 3 homes for permanent residents • Housing for 10 to 15 temporary residents (guest lecturers, interns, etc.)

• A photovoltaic array • Sufficient parking for up to 50 cars.

In addition to defining the spatial relationships between the master plan elements, 4 Winds would also like the Conway School team to: • Assess the viability of regenerative agriculture • Explore options for efficient water management

The Conway School • Spring 2015

4 Winds’ sweeping vistas and native forests belie the landscape degradation that goes on all around the region. To the west, throughout the Colorado Plateau, natural gas drillers contaminate aquifers and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To the south, coal miners cut into mountain sides, destroying habitat for a wide range of plants and animals. Everywhere, humans take water from its natural courses to export it in the form of agricultural crops or pipe it through the mountains to Colorado’s population hubs on the Eastern Slope of the Rockies. This pattern of extraction without replenishment seems to go hand and hand with Colorado’s history as a US state. However, sustainable human interaction with these landscapes is possible and has historical precedence. For most of indigenous history, the area around Glenwood Springs was a seasonal home. While people came to these areas to hunt and forage, they understood that this arid landscape with its steep geologic features could not sustain their communities without a willingness to work with the natural process of regeneration.

Russell Wallack and Cary White

The 4 Winds property is the site of a future healing and education center located at 7,200 feet in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The 125-acre property is ringed by the root systems of Gambel’s oak forests that predate European settlements, and it sits just 10 miles from the Yampah steam caves, an ancient place of healing. In recent history, the 4 Winds property has been managed for hay production and as a horse farm. Brigette Schabdach and Joel Proctor—who own and represent the 4 Winds business—purchased a 35-acre portion of the property in 2011, and a surrounding 90-acre parcel in 2015. They currently care for two horses on the property and are establishing the start of a commercial vermiculture operation. Brigette and Joel recently renovated an outbuilding for use as rental units as well as the main house as part of a future healing center.

Introduction

A Return to Sustainable Practices

Brigette Schabdach and Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Through cultivation arts classes and regenerative land management practices, the 4 Winds project strives to be a healing force in the Roaring Forks Valley.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Introduction

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Roaring Forks River

Glenwood Springs sits at the confluence of the Colorado and Roaring Forks rivers.

The Roaring Forks Valley has supported seasonal human populations on and off for the last millennium, but the current growth of the year-round population, fostered by the tourist industry, is outgrowing the region’s water and food resources.

The property itself holds high value for conservation purposes because of the Grand Hogback, a mostly undeveloped 90-mile ridgeline that intersects the eastern portion of the property. This feature acts as a travel corridor for mule deer, black bears, and other large mammals to move throughout the seasons. Additionally, the Aspen Valley Land Trust holds three other conservation properties within 3 miles totaling 1,300 acres.

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234 The Conway School • Spring 2015

The natural patterns of the Roaring Fork Valley also attract thousands of tourists to the valley each year. For example, people come from all over the world to experience the skiing and other winter sports opportunities at the valley’s resorts. This activity peaks in the winter in cities like Aspen, but then slows down for a few months before another summer rush of activity. The city of Glenwood Springs, just ten miles north of 4 Winds, sees a more consistent flow of tourists to its healing hot springs and caves, but also has an increase in tourism during fishing and hunting seasons. Other organizations have capitalized on these natural tourist attractions to create cultural events and education centers such as the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, and the Aspen Film Festival, which has over 30,000 participants each year. This flow of visitors to the valley provides 4 Winds with an opportunity to not only educate, heal, and connect with the residents of the valley, but also visitors from all over the world.

4 Winds

Russell Wallack and Cary White

While the natural resources in the area, such as gold, coal, natural gas, and timber, attracted settlers to develop permanent communities in the Roaring Forks Valley over the past 130 years, the climatic challenges that prevented year-round settlements for the Utes still remain. Late frosts make it hard for farmers to guarantee consistent harvests, and just 19 inches of annual precipitation limits agricultural productivity. This means that most of the current permanent residents of this area rely on fossil-fuel powered vehicles and safe passage through the mountainous landscape to have adequate food. This reliance on resources from outside of the Roaring Forks valley makes the region especially vulnerable to drought, increases in oil prices, and natural disasters that prevent access to the valley. Using regenerative land management practices that can adapt to change, 4 Winds would like to produce food on its land through strategies that work with the natural patterns in its location. The Utes’ interaction with and understanding of the ecosystems around them inspire the vision for 4 Winds, and for how humans can once again see themselves as a part of nature.

Colorado River

The many outdoor recreation opportunities, the stunning montane landscapes, and the abundance of open space has increased real-estate development in the Roaring Forks Valley over the past few decades. The Roaring Forks community’s population has increased by over 25% just since 2000, and much of this has been suburban development on large plots (Aspen Times). These homes and the accompanying amenities like golf courses have increased the fragmentation of riparian habitats and open fields that are valuable for elk and mule deer habitat. 4 Winds would like its master plan to reverse these trends by increasing the native habitat on their property and by placing part of the property under a conservation easement that will prevent it from further development.

Brigette Schabdach and

The Roaring Forks River flows down the western slopes of the Rockies from the snow pack at over 14,000 feet. The river flows northwest, from Aspen through Carbondale to Glenwood Springs, where it joins the Colorado River. For thousands of years, the valleys of the Colorado and Roaring Forks Rivers served as seasonal hunting grounds and settlements for the nomadic Utes and others tribes. Local hot springs and steam caves have drawn people to these healing spaces from miles away. Enclaves like the present-day location of Aspen, tucked between steep mountainsides high in the river valley, served as summer hunting grounds when elk and mule deer migrated up the valley for forage.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Human settlement in the Roaring Forks Valley has historically been restricted by the rugged landscape and harsh climate.

Historic Context

4 Winds

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Historic Context

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Land management and agriculture must plan for the increased likelihood and severity of future droughts. This is a particularly pressing concern given that climate scientists now consider the twentieth century—when water allocations were made—to have been a particularly wet century for Colorado. “The early twentieth century, had been the wettest since the sixteen-hundreds, and 1922, the year of the agreement, was one of the very wettest.

Since then, there have been years when the total flow was less than a third of what the negotiators assumed” (Owen). The land management practices in Colorado for the past 130 years have been based on water consumption at a level that cannot be sustained.

“The (Colorado) river has been ‘over-allocated’ since the states in its drainage basin first began to divide the water among themselves, nearly a century ago, and scientists expect climate change to strain it further, in part by reducing precipitation in the mountains that feed it.”

—Owen 2015 Climate change in the past few decades has already increased the frequency and severity of droughts in the western United States (Colorado Water Conservation Board). Agricultural planning in Colorado relies on an extensive network of irrigation ditches that bring water out of mountain springs and lakes down into the productive valleys. These water sources are replenished annually by the melt of the Rockies’ snowpack, so drought not only means reduced rainfall in the valley, but also a reduction in irrigation water.

Physical forces such as plowing and erosion remove topsoil and can kill off the soil biota.

Land stripped of topsoil has little ability to absorb water or the nutrients needed to support life.

Desertification

“A multi-decadal drought event some 850 years ago may have eliminated maize cultivation by the first human settlers of the Colorado Plateau, the Fremont and Anasazi people, and contributed to the abandonment of their settlements. Even today, ranching and farming are vulnerable to drought and struggle to persist. The recent use of the Colorado Plateau primarily as rangeland has made this region less tolerant to drought due to unprecedented levels of surface disturbances that destroy biological crusts, reduce soil carbon and nitrogen stocks, and increase rates of soil erosion.”

— Schwinning et al. (2008) The United Nations calls desertification “a phenomenon that ranks among the greatest environmental challenges of our time.”

The process of desertification refers to the loss of fertile topsoil either by erosion or extractive human activities such as surface mining, clear cutting, overgrazing, or agricultural tillage. Once the soil has lost most of its organic matter, it can lose its ability to hold water and the land can remain parched even through periods of precipitation.

According to a 1998 analysis by the NRCS, much of Colorado is classified as having a very high vulnerability to desertification.

While this study was based on soil characteristics and regional climate data, the probability of desertification can be even higher in areas where humans have removed the pre-existing vegetation to make way for agriculture, mining, and urban development.

Many of these forces are present around the 4 Winds property.

Furthermore, the cutting back of native forests on the 4 Winds property itself may have reduced the resilience of the land to combat desertification. With this in mind, 4 Winds should look to the ways in which Native Americans integrate their agricultural practices into ecological patterns, as well as modern techniques that stabilize topsoil, maximize vegetative cover, and replenish groundwater resources.

Brigette Schabdach and

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234 The Conway School • Spring 2015

Climate Change

Extractive processes such as logging and poorly managed grazing remove organic matter from an area and reduce the soilbuilding capacity of the ecosystem.

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Rapid subdivision development in the Roaring Forks Valley over the past two decades has fragmented the landscape and strained the area’s water and energy infrastructure.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

A functioning ecosystem holds the soil in place with plant roots. Decaying vegetation also increases the organic matter and the soil’s ability to retain water.

Changing Climate

Scientific predictions of megadroughts in the 21st century suggest that Colorado may face significant challenges for human habitation in the near future.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Changing Climate

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Existing Vehicle Access

The central 34-acre parcel includes a 20,000-square-foot equestrian barn, a 3,500-square-foot hay barn, a five-unit apartment complex, a 35,000-gallon pond, and a single-family dwelling. This central activity area also includes 9 acres of horse pasture and 20 acres of forest covering its eastern half. There are no buildings outside of the northwestern corner of the 34-acre parcel.

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Main House

Paddock

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Horse Pasture

Grand Hogback

Outlying 90-Acre Hayfields and Native Forest

The vestige of a 100-million-year-old ocean shoreline reaches 200 feet above the barn and forms the eastern edge of the property.

A 90-acre parcel expands out from the central parcel to the north, south, and west. Most of this property is in hayfields surrounded by a forest perimeter. Old equipment, irrigation ditches, and the vegetation indicate that the open fields have been flood irrigated for livestock pasture and hayfields since 1890. eC Fourmil

Utility Access

A powerline runs north to south through the middle of the parcel and an existing 2,000-gallon well pumps water from just southeast of the horse barn to a cistern in the hay barn. Freeman Creek runs through the property at the base of the Hogback.

South Hayfields

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Oak Patches Scattered Throughout Property

Patches of Gambel’s oak and shrubs appear throughout the hayfields. While the NRCS soil survey for 4 Winds does not suggest there is bedrock near the surface of the property’s soils, it does appear that there is exposed rock in some of these patches. It is likely that these portions of the property were never tilled because of rocky soil or exposed bedrock, or they were used as places to dump rocks that were pulled from elsewhere in the fields.

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The Conway School • Spring 2015

Horse Barn

Central Activity Area Within 34-Acre Parcel

5 Apartment Units

Russell Wallack and Cary White

A single gravel driveway enters the property from Four Mile Road and the west side of the property. This edge of the terrace falls at a roughly 33 percent slope, so it would be costly to grade another access road. Additionally, the driveway is an easement through another person’s property, so another driveway would require a new easement.

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Power Line

Brigette Schabdach and

Freeman Creek

Freeman Creek runs through the eastern edge of the terrace, at the foot of the Hogback. Freeman Creek only runs part of the year, as it is mostly fed by run-off from irrigation ditches. The Freeman Creek is a tributary of the Four Mile Creek, which runs through the valley to the west of 4 Winds.

Existing Conditions

The 4 Winds property sits atop an alluvial fan terrace roughly 10 miles south and 1500 feet above the city of Glenwood Springs.

The property is bordered to the west by Four Mile Creek and to the east by Freeman Creek and the Hogback. The property is roughly three quarters of a mile from north to south.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

The 4 Winds property is a 124-acre former equestrian farm that sits atop a northfacing terrace between the Grand Hogback and Four Mile Creek.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Existing Conditions

North Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community

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The large barns can either frame or obscure the beauty of the mountainous landscape around the property. Views such as this show how clustered buildings with well-defined outdoor spaces can help frame views and provide a sense of enclosure in a mostly exposed landscape.

The view from the base of the Hogback looks out over oak and hawthorn groves backed by the Colorado Plateau in the west.

This view offers beautiful sunsets, and changing views throughout the seasons as the aspens on the mountainside change color.

The prospect from Joel and Brigette’s current home has the potential for a beautiful view of the Roaring Forks valley in the distance, and their pond in the foreground. The large horse barn obscures some views of the Hogback but provides a sense of scale to the surrounding landscape.

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Brigette Schabdach and

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234 The Conway School • Spring 2015

Looking uphill from the northern edge of the property, the sloping fields block views of the activity around the barn, while allowing for long views of the mountains to the south.

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Short View

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Open View

Views Analysis

Almost the entire 4 Winds property has 360-degree views of the mountainous landscape.

These views remind residents and visitors of their place in the landscape.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Views Analysis

Like the viewpoint from the north end of the property, the high point of the southern offers an unobstructed view across the terrace and the steep slope of the Hogback.

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4 Winds sits on top of a terrace. To the west, the land falls steeply down towards Four Mile Creek and to the east rises the Hogback.

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Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

East-West Section

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Because of its steep slopes, the Hogback, though undevelopable, provides outstanding views from its summit.

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The Conway School • Spring 2015

Along the terrace, the property slopes at a fairly consistent slope up from the north.

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Russell Wallack and Cary White

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Slopes Analysis

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The entire terrace sits on a roughly 8 percent north-facing slope.

It is bordered by a steep downslope to the west, and a steep slope up the Hogback to the east. Slopes influence where 4 Winds can legally construct access roads. Any access road to the permanent community, the agricultural fields, or the healing and retreat center must be twelve feet wide and have a maximum slope of 12 percent. This standard and the difficulty of building new structures on a steep slope will limit development on the western edge of the property and on the area encompassing the Freeman Creek and the Hogback.

Additionally, the slope patterns suggest directions for agricultural planning. The northern aspect of the property means that the microclimate for 4 Winds is generally cooler than the average open field or south-facing slope in the region. Therefore, when selecting for plant and crop varieties, the client should look for species with a hardiness zone around 5a, although the surrounding area ranges from 6a to 4a.

The client may consider constructing a system of swales for irrigating the agricultural fields. If these swales are intended to transport water they should not direct water down a slope of greater than 6 percent as this risks creating an erosion gully.

If these swales are intended for infiltrating water, the running slope should be 0.33 percent to maximize infiltration. This map was derived using the National Elevation Dataset, which uses a ten meter cell size. Because of this relatively low resolution, a more detailed survey or extensive on-site planning is required to successfully design an irrigation system that mitigates erosion risks around the property.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Aside from very steep slopes on the Hogback, much of the property is less than a 12 percent slope. This is important for meeting zoning requirements and protecting soils from erosion.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Slopes Analysis

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Freeman Creek Watershed Crystal River Watershed

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First in Time; First in Line In times of water shortage, if an owner of a water right feels that she is not getting her fair share, she can petition for a call to be made on her water source. This means that any owner of a right that was formed after hers will have their water shut off until she receives her full allotment. The 1890 right on the Buck Farm Ditch is a “senior” right off of Four Mile Creek, meaning that 4 Winds can request that other users of the creek turn off their water during times of shortage.

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Buck Farm Ditch Looking south, the Buck Farm Ditch enters the southern hayfields.

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The Conway School • Spring 2015

Four Mile Creek Watershed

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Drainage Direction

When American settlers first arrived in Colorado, many immediately began diverting water from nearby streams and rivers for gold mining and for agricultural irrigation. In the 1860s the people of the Colorado Territory accepted what is known as the Colorado Doctrine. Unlike eastern states which give landowners rights to any water flowing through their property, Colorado views all surface and groundwater as a public resource. Citizens may apply to claim a certain amount of water provided that they are putting it towards a beneficial use, which includes a range of uses such as irrigation, fire suppression, and snowmaking.

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Irrigation Ditches

Brigette Schabdach and

Colorado Water Law

The 4 Winds property straddles two drainage divides. The largest watershed on site drains into the Freeman Creek, which runs along the base of the Hogback. To the west, surface water drains into Four Mile Creek and to the east, the Crystal River. These drainage patterns are complicated by a series of irrigation ditches constructed over the past 150 years. The direction of the ditches was determined largely by property boundaries and the location of former agricultural fields. Where they do not come up to a property boundary, the main ditches follow small ridgelines, which allowed previous farmers to flood irrigate to both sides.

The 90-acre parcel holds two separate rights to irrigation water from the Buck Farm ditch. The first right, adjudicated in 1890, decrees 2.4 cubic feet per second, while the second, adjudicated in 1936, decrees an additional 1.6 cfs. According to the NRCS irrigation toolbox, the total 4 cfs would be more than enough to provide irrigation across the property for vegetable production, orchards, or hayfields, and exceed current demand.

Although water is in relative abundance on the 4 Winds property, there is reason to expect future water supply to decrease significantly during projected periods of drought. Therefore, it is vital that 4 Winds develop a resilient irrigation system that infiltrates surface water deep into soils rich in organic matter, before moving forward with further agricultural development.

Plan and Feasibility Study Hydrology Analysis Master 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Open irrigation ditches transport water around the property though their efficiency could be improved by following natural drainage channels.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Hydrology Analysis

Many water rights were formed initially for gold mining.

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Bromegrass Hay Field Pinyon/Juniper Forest

Gambel’s oak appear with a cleared understory in places at 4 Winds (above), and in other places the oaks are growing in dense thickets.

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Brigette Schabdach and

Gambel’s Oak Forest

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The Conway School • Spring 2015

Russell Wallack and Cary White

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Vegetation Analysis

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Much of the 4 Winds property has been managed as bromegrass hayfields for over a century.

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The vegetation patterns at 4 Winds are dictated partially by geoecological patterns, and partially by the land-use history. 4 Winds is located in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-elevation Sedimentary Forest Ecoregion. Gambel’s oak , pinyon pine and juniper make up the overstory of this ecoregion, with shrubs such as serviceberry, black hawthorn, mountain mahogany, and chokecherry populating the woody understory. While these communities are present around the perimeter of the property, 125 years of hay cultivation has left a broad swath of roughly 60 acres of non-native bromegrass fields through the center of the 4 Winds terrace. The denser vegetative layer and the shade provided by the oak-serviceberry overstory keeps the soil in perimeter of the property much moister than the wind-swept and sunbaked grasslands. The small pockets of grassland that are protected by the oak thickets have much warmer and moister microclimates.

As discussed by Floyd et al. (2000), the Pinyon-Juniper-OakServiceberry Woodland does not exist as a homogeneous band of vegetation across the ecoregion, but rather as a matrix of patches of vegetation in various states of growth. The stage of each patch was historically dictated by fire and wildlife pressures, but agriculture over the past century has drastically increased the disturbance that these patches face. For example, the OakServiceberry Shrubland that covers much of the 4 Winds plateau is a vestige of a more diverse community that remains as the result of frequent fires that killed the pinyon and juniper trees in these areas. Floyd et al. discuss this hypothesis with regard to similar patches of vegetation subject to similar conditions in the southwest corner of Colorado.

This theory is supported by the research of Bromme and McGarigal (2003). In their study of succession on the Uncompaghre Plateau southwest of 4 Winds, they discuss how the juniper and pinyon trees appear in later successional stages; when an area is densely colonized by the oak-serviceberry overstory without pinyon or juniper, it indicates that fire or human disturbance has temporarily prevented that patch from developing into the typical late-succession stage for this community.

One may conclude that just because plants like juniper and pinyon are not currently growing in a location, this does not mean that they are not compatible with that area of the property. If 4 Winds intends to reforest a portion of the property, the species mix should not necessarily match what the existing forested patches contain. They could consider experimenting with juniper and pinyon pine to create later succession patches on their property.

This diversity of habitat would better match heterogeneity that this plant community typically has. Additionally, an agroforestry model could allow 4 winds to harvest nuts from pinyon pines, or analogous species that could fill this niche in a production-focused ecosystem.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Forests surrounding hayfields provide forageable edibles, wildlife habitat, and wind buffers, and help retain moisture in the soil.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Vegetation

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Juniper and pinyon pine grow on the upper parts of the Hogback.

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12:1

18.75

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Horse Yard

OAK GROVE

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13.9:1

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Oak Grove

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5.2

14.7:1

14.43

123.7

MIDDLE FIELD

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13.7:1

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Northern Field

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How to Make the Soils Healthier

According to the USDA, for the health of soil organisms the optimum range of the soil’s organic carbon to nitrogen ratio is 12:1 to 15.4:1. With ratios between 13.7:1 to 15.4:1, the hayfields at 4 Winds fall within the optimal range for C:N. To ensure long term soil health and livestock vigor, 4 Winds should introduce plants that can sequester nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil food-web.

Soil Tests

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Some native nitrogen-fixing plants include: • Cercocarpus ledifolius Mountain Mahogany • Lathyrus ochroleuchrus Creamy Peavine • Astragalus canadensis Canada Milkvetch • Astragalus crassicarpus Groundplum Milkvetch • Lupinus argenteus Silvery Lupine • Lupinus sericeus Silky Lupine • Elaeagnus commutata Silverberry • Heracleum sphondylium Cow Parsnip • Amphicarpa bracteata Ground Bean • Psoralea esculenta Prairie Turnip

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Samples collected from five different areas with different management regimes all indicate good soil health. The south, middle, and north fields are flood irrigated and mechanically harvested for hay, the horse yard is not irrigated, and oak groves are unmanaged. The “Haney Test” used by Ward Laboratories in Nebraska produces a soil health rating based on the level of microbial activity and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the soil.

Ward Laboratories suggests that soils should score above 7 to be considered healthy, and all of the soil samples from 4 Winds received ratings of 14.43 to 18.75.

Anything above 4 percent organic matter in soil is considered high for this region according to the NRCS, and all of the soil tested at 4 Winds was more than 4.5 percent organic matter. High levels of organic matter increase the water and nutrient storage capacity of a soil and indicate healthy bacterial and fungal life, both of which are important for the compounds that they use to make nutrients accessible to plant roots. 4 Winds should practice agricultural methods that maintain this healthy characteristic of their soil.

All of the soils tested on site have a pH of 6.8 to 7.0. This means that the soil is just barely acidic. Many agricultural plants are adapted for these conditions, as are the plants that are native to these soils, but when considering medicinal herbs that can be produced at 4 Winds, the apothecary should look for plants that fall within this range. For specialty or high value crops, 4 Winds could consider pH modifications in small areas.

Soil Microbial Health Test

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The Conway School • Spring 2015

Organic Matter

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Soil pH

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Sample

Brigette Schabdach and

4 Winds sits on a terrace that formed when glacial meltwaters carried sediment out of the Colorado Plateau that rises to the west of the property. These sediments piled up against the Hogback which borders the property to the east. The terrace drops off steeply to the west down to Four Mile Creek and rises steeply up the Hogback on the eastern edge of the property.

The terrace, while much more level than the slopes to the east and west, has a slope averaging 6 percent down from the south to north end of the property. The soils that formed on the surface of this terrace (or alluvial fan) are Jerry-Millerlake clay-loam.

They sit on an underlying layer of sand, gravel and coarse cobble.

The combination of the 6 percent slope and the deep base of sand and gravel makes for well-drained fields. Well-draining soils are preferred for septic systems, building sites and agricultural fields. However, they are not ideal for constructing a pond.

While 4 Winds does not necessarily need another pond to farm successfully, ponds are often used in western agriculture to provide a reserve water supply during droughts.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Geology

Soil Analysis

The geology & land management have created well draining and healthy soils on the terrace between the Hogback and Four Mile Creek.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Soil Analysis

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Full Shade

Photovoltaics

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4 Winds could take further steps to reduce its carbon footprint by siting photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for domestic use and agricultural uses such as irrigation. Potential solar energy for a location is calculated in “peak sun hours.” A peak sun hour is a unit of measurement that describes the amount of energy collected during an hour in which insolation is one kilowatt per square meter. Peak sun hours vary by location because of the difference in the sun’s angle and intensity. The amount of peak sun hours for a location also differs from the daylight hours. The daylight hours dawn and dusk do not have the same intensity as midday sunlight, so they do not contribute as much to the total peak sun hours for a location. For example, 4 Winds has an average of approximately nine hours of daylight per day during the month of December, but according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), only approximately three peak sun hours per day in that month.

NREL’s analysis (PVWatts Calculator) shows that 4 Winds receives an average of roughly 5.5 peak sun hours per day. To determine the size of photovoltaic array that would cover 4 Winds needs, you calculate the total production of a 1 kW panel by multiplying 5.5 peak sun hours by 365 days per-year and an 82 percent conversion rate when the power is converted from DC to AC. A 1 kW panel placed with full exposure at 4 Winds would produce approximately 1,646 kWh per year. 4 Winds’ electric usage was 2635 kWh in March 2015. If that usage is averaged across the whole year, then the property uses 31,620 kWh per year. By dividing 31,620 kWh by 1,646 kWh, one finds that 4 Winds can meet all of its current electric needs with twenty 1kW solar panels. As long as 4 Winds is connected to the power grid, they can benefit from net-metering, which compares the total power produced by a customer to the total power consumed by that customer. This practice would allow 4 Winds to rely on their solar panels only when that resource is available, and to receive credit when they are producing more electricity than they are consuming.

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Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234 The Conway School • Spring 2015

Partial Sun

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Full Sun

Brigette Schabdach and

The abundance of sunlight means the property is also well-suited for passive-solar buildings. This design technique lights and heats buildings by orienting them so that at least 70 percent of windows face the sun on the south side of the building. The resulting solar gain, along with wind protection from cold northern winds, can greatly reduce a building’s energy needs for heating and cooling.

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

Passive Solar

The largest physical barrier to sunlight on the 4 Winds property is the Hogback, which rises up to 200 feet above the property to the east. However, even on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the base of the western side of the Hogback is only shaded until 10am, which means that the property only loses thirty minutes of sunlight due to the Hogback.

On the rest of the property the patterns of vegetation almost entirely dictate the solar exposure. Mostly open fields that run north to south through the middle of the property receive the six hours required for full-sun plants, while in the Gambel’s oak and pinyon juniper the 10- to 20-foot-high canopy blocks sunlight from reaching the ground. In general the Gambel’s oak forests have a denser canopy than the pinyon-juniper forest though there are some sunny spots, especially in the northeast corner of the property. The only other limitations to ground-level sun exposure are the shadows cast by the buildings clustered at the center of the property and the few small oak stands that shade patches of the hayfields.

Because sun is so abundant on the property, there is significant opportunity for agricultural production especially in the existing pasture and hayfields. For agricultural purposes, “full sun” is generally defined as greater than six hours of sun exposure.

Even on the shortest day of the year, the most shaded part of the property receives approximately eight hours of sun. Many conventional agriculture crops are annuals that require full sun for optimum growth, but growing these crops is also extremely water intensive because there is so much exposed soil that heats up and loses moisture. Some medicinal herbs and native berries like currants are adapted to growing in a forest understory where they are shaded by the canopy. If 4 Winds plans to use some of the full sun areas of the property for growing shade-adapted plants, agricultural techniques that use crops of varying heights to create shady microclimates should be used.

Sun/Shade Analysis

Large spaces of full sun provide many opportunities for agriculture, passive solar buildings, and photovoltaic energy production.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Sun/Shade Analysis

North

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Forest

Steep Slopes Restrict Building Options

County building bylaws require that all buildings be accessible via a road of less than 12 percent slope. To achieve this on the property’s steep slopes would require developing long roads through existing forest, something that does not fit with 4 Winds’s vision. Any trails up the Hogback should be designed to minimize disturbance and not create erosion channels.

For more information refer to the National Trails Training Partnership.

Peninsulas of forest build separation and distance from the main activity center around the barn.

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The only wellhead on the property is near the hay barn, which limits where additional housing can go on the property. This well has a right to 2,000 gallons of consumption per day. Locating housing downslope from the wellhead is advantageous to allow for gravity-fed domestic water from a cistern in the case of a power outage. Depending on the needs of future activities at 4 Winds, they may need to investigate building an additional well.

However, there are easy water conservation measures that they could implement (see appendix). For example, using composting toilets saves 15 to 20 gallons of water per person per day.

Impeded Views

The barn and the activity around it can impede the views of the mountainous landscape surrounding 4 Winds from certain locations. Additionally, the activity of up to 100 people on site around the barn area could disturb the privacy for the residential community if new houses were built in this area. Having short views between the entrance to the property and all of the visitors’ activities makes navigation easier for visitors who are not familiar with the property.

Beautiful Views

Driveway

Most of the hayfields contain 360-degree mountain views. The elevated terrace conceals most of the residential development around the property. These dramatic views are important to the mission of 4 Winds. They help residents and visitors remind themselves that they are a part of the landscape.

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In order to preserve the rural character of the property and to avoid disturbing wildlife movement patterns, 4 Winds would like to minimize the creation of new roads. Therefore, new buildings should be easily accessible from the lone existing vehicle access point at the main driveway.

Protected Alcoves

Due to the shallow bedrock in the southern fields, there are patches of forest that have not been cleared for haying. The pattern of the fields’ edges carve out two alcoves. The forests create a sense of privacy, create some shade, and protect these areas from the northern winds that flow up the valley across the 4 Winds terrace. This pattern should be mimicked with windbreaks planted to the north of new homes if they are located in the otherwise open hayfields.

Protect the Trees

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New development should avoid disturbing the already forested areas. Forests provide valuable services by reducing the evaporation of precipitation, slowing wind speeds, building soil with fallen leaf litter, preventing erosion, and providing habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Due to the dry climate, these ecosystems may take over a hundred years to fully regenerate if clear cut.

The Conway School • Spring 2015

Greater than 12% Slopes

Joel Proctor 7906 CR 117 Glenwood Springs, CO 01234

Full Sun

Russell Wallack and Cary White

Short View

Brigette Schabdach and

Open View

Master Plan and Feasibility Study 4 Winds at 4 Mile Crossing

To maintain the property’s undeveloped character, 4 Winds would like new buildings to be close to the developed area around the barn. They have discussed entering into a conservation restriction for the 90-acre parcel, and the land trust they are partnering with requires that all new houses be grouped within one subdivision to protect the property from further development. Clustering the three new houses for permanent residents will also minimize the impact of fulfilling county residential building requirements by allowing the homes to share a septic system and access roads. Garfield County’s planning department is the regulatory authority that 4 Winds will need to work with for their permitting process once they have a clear sense of what they want to build on site.

Building Analysis

Slopes, views, and vegetation patterns suggest siting future buildings in the hayfields.

Not for construction. These drawings are part of a student project and they are not based on a legal survey.

Building Analysis

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