Wrapping up with Rapp

Last week marked the end of my time volunteering with the Shooks Run Agro-Forestry project (for the time being at least). The highlight of my time with Gary last week was hearing his suggestions in regards to sustainability initiatives on campus. I pitched to him a few of the ideas that our class came up with last week (ie: green roofs and farm plots outside the dorms) and he was very enthusiastic about these. Although he did say they sounded of similar nature to the ideas he had when he was younger that no one would listen to.. Yet he persevered so so can we! One idea that I have pondering that was not brought up in class, is that whenever facilities is planning to plant a new tree, shrub, etc. they should chose fruit bearing trees and bushes. I asked Gary if he thought this was feasible and he directed me to Colorado Spring's Landscape Code and Policy Manual.

http://www.springsgov.com/Files/landscape.pdf.

This is a very helpful resource because it goes into detail about which species are native to the different ecosystems in Colorado Springs as well as the historically adapted species. The most relevant parts of the manual are Appendix A: "Native Plant Communities," Appendix B: "Selected Plants," and the Signature Landscapes Design Manual addendum. He also sent me a set of maps of the city's Native Plant Communities, Climate Zones, and General Vergetation and Soil Associations, which I found to be pretty interesting.



Another great resource that Gary referred me to is the Pikes Peak Urban Gardens organization:

http://ppugardens.org/

They are doing great things and I am sure they could be very helpful in on campus initiatives, such as the dorm farm plots. Next year I will be living in the Local Living and Learning Community and my goal is to undertake this idea and hopefully make it happen.