Highwater instills positive work ethic among youth

By James Steindler Contributing Editor

On a back road outside of Silt sits a plot of land made up of bountiful crops, raised by hard working hands. Each summer, for the past three years, a cohort of high school aged youth work the farm, learning from their mentors and through hands-on experience.

On a hot day in July, Highwater Farm welcomed the community for a lunch, whipped up by The Farmer and the Chef Catering, with fresh vegetables from the farm. Before lunch, youth crew members took attendees on a tour of the farm.

Brittany Zepeda and Julian Jasso, both sophomores at Coal Ridge High School, guided this reporter and were quite knowledgeable about the work they’ve been doing.

Jasso’s grandmother grows corn, flowers and garlic at her home in New Castle, where he received his introduction into growing food. That experience inspired him to join the program at Highwater.

Among other skills at the Highwater Farm, “We learned how to harvest garlic, onions and how to kill squash beetles” without using pesticides, Zepeda told The Sopris Sun. “Different crops grow in different ways,” she added. For instance, “some get watered from above which cools down the plant, while other plants get water from a drip line that waters directly at the roots.”

Jasso explained the need to give a plot a break after working it for a couple of years, letting cover crops take over the section to help regenerate the soil.

On a typical work day, the youth crew generally splits into smaller working groups, the duo detailed.

Over the eight-week session, they all develop friendships with other young people they may not have otherwise come to know.

The students help raise the crops for Highwater’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members who get a box of fresh veggies regularly, and get to pick beautiful flowers themselves, straight from the farm.

Zepeda and Jasso shared that 15% of the harvest is donated to LIFT-UP, benefiting families experiencing food insecurity, and providing them the opportunity to be of service to their community.

At the end of a work day, the students will gather for a workshop session in the shade of a giant tree at the corner of the property. Either a staff member or a guest instructor will teach a component of the trade.

Jasso is finishing up his second summer season with Highwater, and is considering applying for the fall youth crew this year. In order to qualify for the 11-week fall program, a student must complete the summer session first.

Zepeda said she is interested in passing on her knowledge one day by teaching agricultural studies. “And, grow my own little farm too,” of course, she added.

Ava Gilbert, the youth program coordinator, acknowledged that the work is not easy and the staff has high expectations for themselves and the youth crew. “We hope that through this program they are really learning a sense of responsibility,” said Gilbert, “and communication skills as well. They’re practicing public speaking today, and always working on communication with each other.”

In closing, Gilbert quoted Highwater’s mission statement from heart: “We use sustainable agriculture to transform the lives of young people and increase access to healthy food in Garfield County,” which seemed to sum it up quite nicely. Highwater Farm offers volunteer opportunities for all ages, community events and more. Find out more at www.highwaterfarm.org

By Amy Hadden Marsh Sopris Sun Correspondent

When White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that kills certain bats, was found in Oklahoma in 2011, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) began putting gates on certain caves in the state to give hibernating bats a head start.

“The cave closures have been done proactively,” explained Tina Jackson, CPW Species Conservation Coordinator and bat expert. “We work with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to protect those roosts that are significant because, as the fungus started moving west, we started picking it up closer and closer to Colorado.”

WNS showed up in North America about 17 years ago. CPW started finding the fungus in Colorado caves in 2022. The first infected bat, a female Yuma bat, was found at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site near La Junta on March 29, 2023. CPW is mainly concerned with the myotis species of bats, which includes the little brown bat. “The other ones we’re keeping an eye on are the tri-colored bat, big brown bat, and Townsend's bigeared bat,” said Jackson.

WNS is caused by the virus

Pseudogymnoascus destructans (PD). Symptoms include a white substance on the nose and “unfurred” skin of hibernating bats. Hibernation is key to spreading the disease, sort of like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” when the virus did its work while humans slept. Unlike the body snatcher virus, however, WNS does not kill the bats outright.

“That fungus is itchy. It's making [the bats] wake up more frequently in hibernation, which is burning through their fat reserves faster,” Jackson explained. “Bats have a lot of surface area for their body size because of those large wings. And it's actually eating away at a lot of that wing tissue, which is causing a lot of internal disturbance to their systems.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website shows that infected bats have been found in 40 states and eight Canadian provinces. PD has also been found in three more states and two additional provinces. WNS is killing up to 95% of certain species of hibernating bats.

Jackson told The Sopris Sun that the origin of WNS is unknown, but bats in Europe and Asia may have evolved with the fungus. “Those bats seem to respond a lot better to the fungus than our bats do,” she said. “They’re able to handle it like [humans] can handle a common cold.”

There are more strains of the fungus in Asia and Europe but only one in North America. “You can really tell it’s one strain that was introduced and is spreading across the country,” she said. “It could have been a researcher who brought the fungus here or a bat that stowed away on a cargo ship. Hard to say exactly.”

The spread of WNS is a prime example of why CPW and other wildlife agencies want to stop people from transporting wildlife across borders. “Because we never really know what's going to be brought in and how that's going to interact with our local species,” she said.

So far, WNS has not jumped species from bats to humans. It only affects hibernating bats. When Jackson says that humans can bring the fungus to the bats, it’s not because humans are sick. PD can live in a hibernation area even when bats are not present. It can live in the mud, on the cave walls — any place that’s cold, dark, and damp. It does not like heat, sunlight or UV rays.

Humans can transfer the virus from site to site via clothing, boots, headlamps or equipment. “If you continues on page 19