The Center for Working Lands
Climate. Conservation. Communities.
The world needs nature preserves to protect and maintain biodiversity. There are also areas where food and fiber production can be the primary goal. However, vast areas of the planet must serve multiple purposes including wildlife habitat protection, food and fiber production, recreational activities, aesthetic value and spiritual and wellness opportunities.
This is where Working Lands come in.
Working Lands are those lands that can not only provide economic return for the landowner but also harbor and maintain biodiversity, protect open space and provide local communities with a sense of place. Society is beginning to realize the critical role that working lands must play in maintaining healthy ecosystems, protecting rural ways of life and mitigating the effects of climate change.
The Center for Working Lands
The Center for Working Lands at Warren Wilson College (CWL) is the perfect landscape for investigating and demonstrating land management practices that integrate ecological services with economic and social returns. Our managed farm, forests, gardens and greenspaces provide students with the opportunity to learn about and experiment with practical and innovative methods that demonstrate the possibilities for multiple outcomes. Through outreach to regional landowners we are able to collaborate on research and the development of land management solutions that strengthen the ties between human and non-human communities for the benefit of both.
Our Vision: Building a more resilient and inclusive world through land stewardship, education and outreach.
Our Mission: Engaging students and the world through experiential education and research focused on five Solution Areas:
- Climate Forward Agriculture
- Food Justice
- Land and Habitat Conservation
- Ecological Landscape Design
- Sustainability Leadership
Climate Forward Agriculture
We promote agricultural practices that are scale-appropriate for regional landscapes, watersheds and communities. Our sustainable agricultural practices prioritize and demonstrate sustainable carbon cycles and financial independence for farmers. CWL Climate Forward goals include:
- Regenerative agriculture
- Carbon monitoring and sequestration
- Alternative energy generation and storage
- No-till/no-spray/cover crop system
- Agricultural enterprise and marketing
Where do we do this work?
Over 290 acres of agricultural land surround the core campus, including a student run, working farm and garden. The WWC Farm is divided among 25 fields in the Swannanoa Valley, specializing as a sustainable, diversified “mixed crop and livestock” farm, with beef cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry.The WWC Garden consists of six acres of organically raised crops, including vegetables, fruits, cut flowers and herbs. It also includes a one-acre apple orchard and makes use of season extension practices such as a heated greenhouse and three unheated hoop houses.
Decarbonization
The CWL is taking a significant step towards decarbonization by shifting away from fossil fuel usage across our 900-acre land operations. This initiative encompasses our Farm, Garden, Forest, and Campus Greenspaces, aiming to decrease our annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 73 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.
In 2023, we teamed up with a local solar company, SolFarm, to create an off-grid charging system for the college's two new electric Solectrac tractors. This move is part of our commitment to reducing carbon emissions, and it's just the beginning of a series of exciting innovations. In the pipeline are plans for PV greenhouse films, solar-powered cattle waterers, rechargeable power tools, and battery storage. These advancements will be made possible through the implementation of an off-the-grid agrivoltaics microgrid on our College Farm. At this microgrid, we'll be exploring the coexistence of crops and solar production—a concept that essentially involves "farming the sun" twice.
Beyond emission reductions, we are transforming our operations into a model for both students and local landowners seeking to minimize the environmental impact of land management while ensuring economic viability. We recognize that early adoption of new agricultural technologies carries substantial risks, especially when profit margins are slim. To address this challenge, we are committed to assuming the risks associated with testing innovative agricultural practices and technologies, so our neighboring producers don’t have to. We are creating a demonstration and training facility that offers a variety of climate-mitigating equipment and practices. This will allow land managers to experiment with these options before committing to full-scale implementation, ultimately lowering the barrier to adopting sustainable practices in agriculture.
Ferguson Carbon Research
Agricultural soils can be carbon sources or sinks depending on how they are managed over the long-term. Any carbon that is not maintained as organic matter in the soil is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change. The Ferguson Soil Carbon Study is a multiyear project focused on inventorying soil carbon across all of the College Farm’s cropping fields and pastures. The data that are collected will be analyzed and compared to future measurements to quantify the efficacy of management practices such as no-till and silvopasture in building soil carbon stores and mitigating the effects of agriculture on climate change. This project has provided research opportunities for three undergraduate students already and will play an important role in understanding how scale-appropriate agriculture can provide a livelihood for farmers while reducing atmospheric CO 2 emissions from farming operations.
No-Till Agriculture
Over the years, new understandings of some of the negative impacts of tillage, particularly in organic systems, have led us to explore more climate forward techniques and technologies.
The WWC Farm has been experimenting with the use of a No-Till Grain Drill to seed the winter barley and other forage crops. This implement allows us to seed these soils without the intensive bed prep that would normally proceed planting. Doing so cuts down dramatically on trips over the field with the tractor, greatly reducing diesel usage, soil compaction and soil disturbance from tillage.
On the WWC Garden, similar techniques are being deployed, including the implementation of roller crimping. Roller crimping involves using a large roller or crimping machine to flatten and crimp the stalks of cover crops, effectively breaking and crushing them. This method is often used in regenerative agriculture to minimize soil disturbance and preserve the soil's structure and organic matter.
With continued student-led research, we will gain a better understanding of how these methods work in our region. Eventually, we hope to move completely to a no-till/cover crop based program that allows us to build on our current soil health principles.
Planned Grazing & Stockpile Feeding
For many years the WWC Farm has used "managed grazing" as a way to improve pasture productivity, soil health and livestock performance. This method of rotating through pastures during the growing season, combined with the production of dry hay to be fed in the colder months, has been the backbone of the farm’s grass feeding program for our ruminant animals. Over the past few years we have been intrigued by the notion of “stockpile grazing” as an alternative to hay feeding in the winter. Stockpile grazing refers to the setting aside of specific acreage with the intention of putting ruminant animals on that field once the growing season has ended. This practice is particularly well suited to our fescue-dominated pastures given the resilience of fescue to cold temperatures, so we felt excited to make this jump.
In order to make this transition to predominantly stockpile feeding in the winter and the removal of hay fields from our operation, we needed new tools to feel prepared for the winter. So, as part of this transition, we adopted some strategies for mapping out our annual grazing pattern, often referred to as "planned grazing". This builds on the foundation of managed grazing, but allows us to forecast available forage and livestock numbers to set up the right amount of forage for the right amount of animals come stockpile season. This transition from managed grazing to planned grazing and stockpile feeding will empower us with tools to continue to make informed decisions for the benefit of our land and our cattle.
Food Justice
We know that food systems that are accessible and equitable to all are the only truly resilient options. Our production garden will serve as a community hub focused on the deconstruction of social, racial and class inequities in food systems and land stewardship. CWL Food Justice goals include:
Collaboration space for internal and external community
Mission aligned partnership development
Outreach to BIPOC, rural and immigrant communities
Food sovereignty
Land access for under-represented agriculture demographics
Herbal medicine and wellness
Agricultural enterprise and marketing
Food Justice Student Leaders
Food Justice has long been a passion of our students and a mainstay of the College's experiential learning through academic, community engagement and work programming. The WWC Garden is committed to serving as a community hub focused on developing and promoting accessible and equitable food systems. As part of this commitment, the College Garden has developed three new student leadership positions. Kyra Collins (L to R) is a sophomore majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Sustainable Agriculture and will be serving as Community Garden Coordinator. Catherine Tsarouhtsis is a junior majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Environmental Education and will be serving as Community Engagement Coordinator focusing mainly on building collaboration with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Anni Jaffe is a junior majoring in Expressive Arts Therapy and will be serving as Community Engagement Partnership Coordinator. We are excited about the leadership these students will bring to addressing food justice and food security in the region.
Land & Habitat Conservation
We understand that managed landscapes are a key component of vibrant communities and healthy ecosystems. Using our forests, open pastures, gardens and semi-wild spaces, we create, preserve and demonstrate environments that contribute to community health and resilience. CWL Land & Habitat Conservation goals include:
Production and biodiversity integration
Land and livelihoods
Specialty market crops for small landowners
Carbon sequestration
Agroforestry
Value-added forest products
Forest enterprise
Ecological Forestry
Our campus is home to 650-acres of one of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world, which we use as a field lab for ecological forestry research, classes and hands-on learning. At WWC we define ecological forestry by the following principles:
- Forests have intrinsic value
- Humans need to extract products from the forest
- Silviculture should follow natural processes as much as possible
- Foresters should plan for the long term
- Forestry is implemented at the stand scale but must be in balance with the larger ecosystem
- The social and economic context matters
- Science and place-based experience should guide forestry
Explore the map to learn more about some of our ongoing ecological forestry projects!
Swannanoa River Revitalization
The Swannanoa River runs through the heart of our valley and campus culture. We take our responsibility for stewarding our stretch of the river seriously, particularly keeping in mind those downstream of us, in both space and time. Through collaboration with state agencies, such as the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), our classes, faculty and crews are working to restore aquatic wildlife to our river and the aquatic habitats they call home.
Freshwater Mussels
Freshwater mussels are unsung heroes of aquatic systems. These invertebrates are often mistaken for rocks at the bottom of riverbeds and streams, but they are actually filtering gallons of water each day, cleaning harmful bacteria and toxins out of the water. Though the Southern Appalachian Region and the Southeastern US are centers of biodiversity for freshwater mussels, the majority of species are facing threat of extinction due to human activities over the last 200 years. While the Swannanoa River once likely housed more than a dozen species of mussel, all these species had disappeared until a recent collaboration with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC). In 2019, NCWRC biologists and Biology and Conservation Biology classes teamed up to release two species of freshwater mussels into the river on campus. Classes and state biologists continue to collaborate to monitor and support these populations.
Tangerine Darters
WWC students and biologists from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and US Fish & Wildlife Service teamed up to release 31 tangerine darters into the campus stretch of the Swannanoa River. These fish are not only beautiful, but play an important role in the river ecosystem as hosts for our more threatened mussel species. Unfortunately, due to damming and past agricultural practices tangerine darters haven’t been seen in the Swannanoa since the 1800’s. This marks the first time the species has been reintroduced this far upstream in the Swannanoa watershed.
Stream Restoration
In 2019, CWL and Restoration Systems restored 11,455 linear feet of the college’s streams to their natural meanders, removing invasive species, enhancing streams and planting about 25,000 trees including edible products such as pawpaw and persimmon. These riparian areas were also placed into conservation easements to protect them indefinitely as valuable stream buffers.
Prior to restoration, many of the streams and creeks that used to meander through the farm fields were channelized, tiled and piped underground for agricultural purposes—a common practice at the time. The result of this practice led to an increase in sediment going into the river during rain events. By putting in meanders, berms, and planting trees, the hope is that we’ll see improvements to water quality in the Swannanoa River, reduce sediment load, diversify and improve wildlife habitat, improve the farm infrastructure and increase the aesthetics of the campus.
Biodiversity Monitoring & Research
Natural Science students and faculty at Warren Wilson are an integral part of the Center for Working Lands Team, helping to understand how our non-human neighbors navigate this landscape and respond to changes in habitats over time. Through faculty and student research projects and course-based research experiences, we are gaining important knowledge about where biodiversity is on our campus and how plant, animal and microbial communities are changing.
Explore the map to learn more about some of our current biodiversity conservation projects!
Ecological Landscape Design
We value the role that green spaces can play in human wellness, energy conservation and biodiversity protection when intentionally integrated into built environments. Our campus greenspaces are a laboratory for testing and refining design scenarios that can be transferred to larger urban and suburban ecosystems. CWL Ecological Landscape Design goals include:
Aesthetics
Habitat and ecological integrity
Energy conservation
Inclusion
Safety & human wellness
Pollinator Gardens
The pollinator gardens on the WWC campus are outdoor spaces designed using native plant species in an effort to attract and support a variety of pollinating insects. By creating pollinator gardens we aim to promote biodiversity and protect endangered species, such as the monarch butterfly. Additionally, our pollinator gardens are utilized as demonstration gardens where people of all ages can learn how such ecological designs can be both aesthetically pleasing and beneficial to pollinators and the environment. These gardens and other habitats on campus have helped us to achieve several national certifications, including Bee Campus USA, Monarch Waystation, a North Carolina Native Plant Habitat and a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat.
Sustainability Leadership
We recognize that the path to a more sustainable world requires professional leaders who are curious, persistent and effective. By providing students with sustainability training through their work assignments, fellowships, enterprise development and community engagement we mentor leaders that are well prepared to make positive and lasting change in the world. CWL Sustainability Leadership goals include:
- Balance social, economic and ecological interests
- Sustainability data collection and analysis
- Compost operation/organic waste stream management
- Alternative energy generation and storage
- Sustainability education and certification
Composting
Warren Wilson composts— and a lot of hard work goes into it. CORE Crew collects compost bins daily from the cafeteria and weekly from residents halls, staff housing and school buildings. The food waste is typically loaded into a mixer along with manure, landscaping brush, wood chips, sawdust and miscellaneous compostable materials. With the exception of the sawdust, these “amendments” come from campus and work to create the right carbon to nitrogen ratio, resulting in decomposition and quality compost. After the mixer, the compost heads to one of the six composting stalls. CORE uses a Forced Aeration Composting system: a series of pipes work to force air into the piles, keeping a constant airflow to allow for decomposition. The compost sits in the stalls until it reaches proper temperature. Eventually, it is collected and used by the WWC Farm, decreasing the need for fertilizers while allowing nitrogen and carbon back into the soil.
Mobile Microgrid
The CWL and WWC Facilities Management are working with the Critical Services Microgrid Group to bring innovative solar energy projects to campus as part of WWC's sustainability programming.
Our first project is a collaboration with UNCA Mechatronics and NCSU Engineering to develop mobile microgrids by upscaling "junk" golf carts and converting them from lead acid batteries to lithium iron phosphate batteries. These Mobile Microgrid Work Vehicles carry their own solar panels so they never need to be plugged into the grid to recharge. Not only do they move people, they also incorporate AC inverters giving them the ability to run power tools, AV equipment, air compressors, etc. at remote work, event and educational sites. And, when a power outage occurs, a fleet will be able to run critical building services such as Gladfelter Cafeteria or Bannerman's IT Services. We currently have nine MMWV's completed and are raising capacity to create a fleet of 20 to be deployed across campus during the current academic year.
Student Opportunities
Students have the opportunity to work with the CWL in a number of exciting and innovative ways across all aspects of their academic career at Warren Wilson College. Over 60 of our current course offerings, spanning all academic departments, make use of the land for instruction and reflection. Our students go on to some of the best graduate programs including: Yale School of the Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and vet schools such as University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Through the Work Program, students have the opportunity to engage with the land in ways that not only inform their current passions and coursework, but also set them up with a wide range of practical skills that prepare them for a breadth of careers after graduation. The CWL develops partnerships with external non-profit organizations such as Bounty and Soul and Utopian Seed Project, local elementary schools and regional businesses such as Highlands Brewery; these partnerships provide students networking and leadership development opportunities. And of course for those students who are looking for outdoor activities, our extensive trail network, mountain biking skills course, Swannanoa River access and open spaces provide the chance to make nature a part of the WWC experience.
“Cultivate” Fellowships
The Cultivate Fellowship provides students with opportunities to weave their passions for climate, conservation, food justice and the environment into all aspects of their Warren Wilson College experience, creating leaders that can make a real difference in the world. Being a Cultivate Fellow allows you to begin making a difference while you are in college, rather than waiting until after you graduate. Through the Center for Working Lands, Cultivate Fellows embark on a path of experiential learning that is meaningful to them and can be integrated across their college career regardless of major, community engagement, work or research interests. By becoming a Cultivate Fellow, you can begin making a difference now and in the future.
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