Sunday, March 10, 2013

WWC and UPAEP: Global Exchange for Sustainability

Beginning in the summer of 2012, Warren Wilson College Forestry Professor Dave Ellum began working with The Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP), Mexico through an initiative of the Environmental Leadership Center. The intent of this program is to further build relationships among students, faculty and staff from a variety of academic institutions around the globe that supports intentional information exchanges that lead to sustainability. Ellum will be working in La Preciosita, a small village approximately 75km southeast of Puebla where community members have  purchased a 400 hectare forest reserve in an otherwise relatively deforested region. The community is interested in managing the forest reserve for ecotourism, production of artisan craft materials and cultivation of medicinal plant crops. Over the next several years, Ellum will be working with students from WWC and La Preciosita community members to develop a forest management plan for the reserve that fits those objectives.
Ellum with community leaders in La Preciosita, Mexico

UPAEP President Alfredo Miranda and his wife Cristina at the
WWC Sawmill with Forestry Crew Students during a recent visit to campus


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