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National Outdoor Leadership School - Index

National Outdoor Leadership School - brochure - Index

ISSUE ROOM
Patagonia’s Rio Baker, home to NOLS fly fishing courses, is one of the sites of a proposed hydroelectric project.
Energy or Ecology
The Future of Patagonia’s
Rivers At Stake
BY MEREDITH HAAS, NOLS PUBLIC POLICY INTERN
At the southern tip of the western hemisphere lies
a vestige of a world that exceeds our imaginations
of natural wonders. As one of the last remaining
refuges in the world for unique and endangered
species, Patagonia boasts a dramatic landscape of
mountains, glaciers, coastal rainforests, and pristine
rivers. Extending over 386,000 square miles in both
Argentina and Chile, Patagonia is also the world’s second
largest reserve of freshwater.
“You find a richly diverse ecosystem with numerous
endemic species,” Peter Hartman told the
Santiago Times in October. Hartman is a member of
the Citizen Coalition for Aysén Life Reserve
(CCARV) and a resident of Aysén—one of the more
isolated towns in Patagonia. “The water and air are
purer than anywhere on the planet,” he says.
Aysén is the home to some of the most pristine
glacier-fed rivers in Chile and is at the epicenter of an
international debate concerning the damming of
Patagonian rivers to increase regional energy resources.
Two energy companies, Endesa and Colbún, have
partnered in the Aysén Project, a $4 billion venture
that calls for the construction of five hydroelectric
dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers.
Chile is facing a national power shortage, and the
dams are estimated to produce 2,750 megawatts of
electricity, or 30 percent of the country’s energy needs.
Currently, Chile imports 72 percent of the energy it
consumes from Argentina. “Water is a resource that is
naturally abundant in Chile and we ought to use it in
order to solve the country’s problem,” said Hernán
Salazar, HidroAysén General Manager, to the Santiago
Times in August. Endesa and Colbún stated that energy
consumption is increasing by six percent annually
and the project is needed to shield the country from
ongoing shortages of Argentine natural gas.
Should the project proceed, miles of wilderness
and farmland will be flooded, drastically affecting the
existing ecosystem and local communities. Development
alone would result in serious changes due to road
construction, dust, noise, associated pollution and the
construction of power stations. Plans are to be reviewed
by Chile’s National Environmental Commission in
2008. If approved, construction would begin in 2009,
and the first dam could be completed by 2012.
Hartman, along with other residents and concerned
environmental organizations, is worried that
dam construction of these rivers will have adverse affects
on the local environment and community. “We
don’t want to see Patagonia industrialized,” he explains.
NOLS, too, has a stake in Patagonia’s wildlands
that would be lost by this project. NOLS Patagonia has
been operating for 18 years as a working farm in the
small town of Coyhaique, developing close relationships
in the area and introducing the wonders of Patagonia
to thousands of students from around the world
and the local vicinity, including Chilean educators.
“Many [course] routes may be flooded and our
over-23 fly fishing course could be completely underwater,”
explained Judd Rogers, director of NOLS
Patagonia. “Some of our entire courses will also be
compromised if this project is approved.”
One of the biggest concerns to NOLS Patagonia
is the transmission line that could run through operating
areas and even on NOLS property. “This line
would be the longest in the world, with 210-foot towers
running for over 1,000 miles,” Rogers said. “Chile
is only 50 miles across in certain areas, so there would
be obvious visual impacts.” According to the International
Rivers Network, cutting a corridor for the lines
would create the world’s largest single clear-cut.
Cultural interaction is one of the main components
unique to courses in Patagonia, and Rogers is
concerned about the cultural impacts from construction.
In an effort to preserve culture and wilderness,
NOLS supports campaigns in opposition to the Aysén
Project and in November will be helping organize a
400-kilometer horseback ride to get rural people engaged,
lending the NOLS farm, horses, and a bus
along the way.
There is also a global grassroots campaign underway to protect
Patagonia’s rivers, wildlands and communities. For more
information or to get involved, visit www.irn.org.
WILDERNESS QUIZ
Question: The United States of America designated
the first wilderness area in the world, the Gila Wilderness,
in 1924. What country designated the second
wilderness reserve? (Answer on page 17)
Rich Brame
FALL 2007
SUSTAINABILITY
INITIATIVE UPDATE
BY JEN LAMB, NOLS PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR
Fall has arrived in Lander and the sustainability initiative
moves into the last few steps of the early assessment
phase. Pure Strategies, the company
helping us assess our sustainability practices and
global environmental footprint, completed the onsite
portion of their evaluation in August. To get a
well-rounded (but affordable) picture of our operations,
they visited Lander (NOLS Headquarters,
Rocky Mountain and the Noble), NOLS Southwest
and Pacific Northwest. NOLS Teton Valley, Alaska
and all of our international locations are participating
in the audit by phone and email.
Tim Grenier and Bob Kerr from Pure Strategies
spent many hours in conversation with staff members
from Rocky Mountain, the Noble, WMI, NOLS
Pro, our travel agency, administration—just about
every department—asking questions about how we
run courses, how we make purchasing decisions,
how our travel policies work, what kind of food we
eat and how we buy it, what our recycling programs
cover (or don’t) and more. They dove into dumpsters,
peaked into closets, had conversations on the
street, and packed their days full of information.
They held a brown-bag lunch forum here in Lander
that more than 30 employees attended.
While we don’t yet have a final report of their
assessment, Tim and Bob left us with some initial
feedback on the final day of their visit to Lander.
First, they noticed that there are lots of little changes
that we can make that will make a big difference.
This is good to hear; we should be able to make improvements
right off the bat that will fuel longerterm
changes. Second, they believe that the
establishment of school-wide performance measures
and goals will make a big positive difference in
our operations. For example, after evaluating their
final report, we might choose to set a goal of reducing
electricity use at Headquarters and the Noble (or
perhaps school-wide?!) by 20 percent by 2010.
Quantifiable goals will provide tangible targets and
we will know when we achieve them. We need to be
sure that we identify who is responsible for achieving
each goal we set. Third, Tim and Bob were impressed
with the response they received from
everyone they met. They found NOLS employees at
all levels to be excited and passionate about this initiative,
eager to improve, and showing no defensiveness
about where we are now and what it might take
to make positive change.
We are still collecting data from branches and
HQ departments that will enable Pure Strategies to
quantify our global carbon footprint. This task is
proving to be quite challenging, particularly when it
comes to assessing the impact of our travel schoolwide.
Once we pass our data to Tim and Bob, they
will finalize their report. In addition to summarizing
their findings, the report will outline our best opportunities
for improvement and make recommendations
for change at both a site-specific and policy
level, on both a short- and long-term basis, and with
lower- and higher-priority status. Working with members
of the board and staff from around the school,
we will use these recommendations to set a more
comprehensive path toward greater sustainability.
Coinciding with this initiative is the schoolwide
strategic planning process. Our sustainability
initiative goals will dovetail nicely with this work, becoming
part of the school’s new long-term road
map. We will keep you posted!
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