A Student Field Experience in the San Luis Valley

Monk-blessed water. Geothermal power plants. A local currency. Micro-brewed beers such as Baca Belgium Blend, San Luis Stout, or Crestone Lager. Organic co-ops and desert bike rides.

Chris Juniper ’74 and Professor Walt Hecox ’64 watch four CC students disappear (temporarily!) into the tallest sand dunes on the continent. Medano Creek (foreground) offers a “textbook” example of a geological phenomenon known as surging; spring runoff from the mountains north of the dunes flows unevenly, creating a moment-to-moment pulsating effect that will be preserved by the addition of the Baca Ranch to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Photo by Anne Christensen.

Where would you find all of these? According to a group of 30 CC economics students, Colorado’s San Luis Valley offers the perfect environment to develop and market all of these products.

This spring, these students were each given a mission — in the form of a 12-page paper and presentation — to figure out how (and if) one could create a more viable economy and maintain natural capital in a severely impoverished place: the San Luis Valley. After 3-1/2 weeks of studying sustainable development in the classroom and in the field, Baca Belgium Blend and geothermal power are just some of the solutions the students — taught by Economics Professor Walt Hecox ’64 — came up with at the end of the block.

The class spent two weeks in the classroom learning the basic economic terms, concepts, and theories of sustainable development, defined by the United Nations as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Then they loaded up into a series of white college vans, plugged in their iPods, and headed south for a week of field research.

The students, Hecox, and Schlessman Program Visiting Executive Chris Juniper ’74 spent the days traveling to every niche of the San Luis Valley — a beautiful but isolated and economically depressed region with a population of approximately 46,000 tucked between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west — and the nights discussing their adventures at the college’s Baca campus.

“This class requires students to apply book learning to the real world, which puts them ahead of most Americans and our current policies but at the forefront of international trends,” said Juniper, a sustainability economist and senior consultant with Boulder-based Natural Capitalism Solutions. “We’re training people to be ‘cultural renaissance citizens’ — how to advocate and be part of sustainable development solutions. Once you’ve read the material, you say, ‘Of course we need an economy that protects the environment for future generations!’ The devil is in the details. No one wants to degrade the environment. People just get stuck in the system.”

The San Luis Valley has found itself “stuck” over the years. Rich in biological diversity, natural beauty, and water, the region has one of the poorest local economies in the state, plagued by water wars, forest fires, unemployment, and harsh climate. The valley forms the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, with much of the water run-off from the mountains sinking into an extensive underground aquifer, sustaining irrigation for the area’s agriculture.

Over the last 10 years, the valley twice fought hard against water diversion to urban areas — winning both times — but more water problems loom in its future as severe, prolonged drought stresses historic water uses. The region is also in the final stages of working to convert the Great Sand Dunes National Monument into a national park. And management of the Rio Grande National Forest is always under debate.

So is it possible to find sustainable links between the region’s ecology and local economies? The class examined the possibilities, trekking the valley — east to west and north to south — to learn about and see the Closed Basin (water) Project run by the Bureau of Reclamation, talk to forest rangers of the Rio Grande National Forest, and visit the massive Forbes/Trincera Ranch. They climbed giant sand dunes, held alligators raised in geothermal ponds, and bought all-natural beef at the Coleman Ranch.

Hecox introduced the sustainable economics course as a half block in 1988 with Maurice Strong, former senior advisor to both the secretary general of the United Nations and the president of the World Bank, and co-author of “Our Common Future,” a report that Hecox deems central in the “genesis of sustainable development.” The San Luis Valley field experience was added to the course in 1994 with the help of visiting co-teacher Tom Wolf ’67.

Hecox said that the San Luis Valley is an ideal microcosm: a cohesive, small region where the students can quickly observe many of the sustainability issues and problems that exist throughout America.

“I love the intensity and flexibility of the Block Plan,” Hecox added. “There is no other education system where you can take students away from a college for a week. I try to get out from between the students and the issues, which are neither black nor white, but gray and very complex. A lot of theoretical stereotypes get crushed quickly by the messiness of real places and real people.”

The class was a completely new way of approaching business and economics for Andreas Wallin and Sandra Larsson, Swedish exchange students who attend the Jönköping International Business School. They noted that environmental awareness is such an inherent part of Swedish culture that it was interesting to observe Americans’ environmental consciousness and the politics.

“It definitely changed my point of view. It was interesting to visit all of these places and see the whole system,” Larsson added. “Some of the people we talked to during the week weren’t really realistic.”

At the end of each visit on the field trip, Hecox asked: “Are there any last questions?” The students never failed to accept the opportunity to learn more. Their ideas and further inquiries incubated and took shape during van rides and evenings at the Baca, as they grappled with finding solutions to make the valley sustainable — and they didn’t always agree.

At the end of each visit on the field trip, Hecox asked: “Are there any last questions?” The students never failed to accept the opportunity to learn more. Their ideas and further inquiries incubated and took shape during van rides and evenings at the Baca, as they grappled with finding solutions to make the valley sustainable — and they didn’t always agree.

After visiting San Luis resident Steve Romero ’98, a valley native, high school teacher, and organizer of the Culebra Habitat Management Group, Sita McInally ’06 noted: “He wanted to change our lives. He was really powerful and into it. He kept explaining the future of the valley and American society: ‘Eat organic no matter what!’ He’s a really hardcore, activist gardener. He called it a farm, but it was only about five arable acres.”

Caleb Spear ’05 took away a different message: “He wants to preserve the land. He sells his crops to pay taxes. I think he was doing it to make a statement that it’s okay for it not to be all about money. He works as a high school teacher to subsidize it. He’s talking about the quality of life and working to be happy, but what if you have to work two jobs to support that?”

At the end of the block, each student came up with his or her own set of policy recommendations to show how the San Luis Valley region can sustain a balance between natural and human activities.

After visiting San Luis resident Steve Romero ’98, a valley native, high school teacher, and organizer of the Culebra Habitat Management Group, Sita McInally ’06 noted: “He wanted to change our lives. He was really powerful and into it. He kept explaining the future of the valley and American society: ‘Eat organic no matter what!’ He’s a really hardcore, activist gardener. He called it a farm, but it was only about five arable acres.”

Caleb Spear ’05 took away a different message: “He wants to preserve the land. He sells his crops to pay taxes. I think he was doing it to make a statement that it’s okay for it not to be all about money. He works as a high school teacher to subsidize it. He’s talking about the quality of life and working to be happy, but what if you have to work two jobs to support that?”

At the end of the block, each student came up with his or her own set of policy recommendations to show how the San Luis Valley region can sustain a balance between natural and human activities.

“The students were diligent, enthused, and involved. They were interested and participated actively, which makes teaching a joy,” Hecox added. “CC has an incredible backyard for opportunities like this, taking students out in the field to talk to experts.” Adds Juniper, “These students are now prepared to move us beyond business as usual.”