Cascadia Community College
Contact Information
Education and Research:
Cascadia is a unique institution. Created in 2000, the college is co-located with a branch of the University of Washington. The words "environmentally sensitive" are included in our Mission Statement and “Environmental Stewardship” is one of the seven Institutional Core Values. The campus is a cornerstone in these efforts. Fifty-eight acres of the 128 acre campus is a restored urban wetlands. The former site of western Washington’s largest cattle ranch, was returned to conditions not seen for more than one hundred years. The pasture was completely striped of vegetation, the creek bed rechanneled and the area planted with native vegetation. Today, it is once again a salmon spawning creek. Beavers have returned, migratory waterfowl breed here and osprey, bald eagles and coyotes can be seen hunting. The wetlands are monitored using a protocol approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps Senior Scientist has said that this is the most successful restored urban wetlands in the region. The National Wildlife Federation awarded its top prize in habitat restoration to the campus in the 2008 Chill Out competition. The wetlands serve as a classroom for Cascadia's environmental science courses, a research habitat for university faculty, and a resource for the community and local K-12 schools. This summer, our partner, the University of Washington Bothell has scheduled four, four-day summer camp sessions for middle and high school students focusing on hands-on experiences in sustainable practices. A photo of the wetlands project is included with this submission.
Cascadia is the first community college in Washington to gain approval to offer a two-year degree in sustainable practices. The program, the Sustainable Technologies and Sustainable Practices program focuses on a two year transfer program for students intending to pursue a bachelor’s degree in an area of sustainable practices. The program also includes two one-year certificate programs in Energy Management and Solar PV Panel System Specialist. The program, launched last fall, currently has a waiting list. This fall a cohort of veterans will start the program through a partnership with the State Office of Veterans Affairs. The college is working with Northshore School District and local businesses to develop a high school curriculum in sustainable practices. Finally, the program faculty are working with a local non-profit, 21 Acres, to assist them with the development of their sustainable agriculture programs for the community.
The Continuing Education Department has begun a series of non-credit courses and workshops targeted to local community members and workers interested in sustainable practices. This summer, the department is offering a Residential Energy Audit Certification program to prepare individuals to sit for two Building Performance Institute’s certification exams. This fall the program will add three classes in urban gardening.
A new student club, the Sustainable Energy Club, was organized this spring. Last fall we added a work study position to work with our facilities coordinator. The position titled Sustainability Outreach Coordinator provides a student with the ability to work directly with college staff on sustainability projects.
Campus Operations:
As indicated in the section on Education and Research, the campus plays a critical role in our efforts in sustainable practices. In the area of energy use, the campus has worked with Puget Sound Energy to replace 502 existing 175 watt metal halide lamps in the two parking garages with four foot fluorescent fixtures. This change resulted in a 62% ($37,000) reduction in energy use per year. Classrooms and rest rooms have lighting fixture timers installed. We are planning to add PV panels to outside shelters and monitor electrical generation by sustainable practice program students.
The campus, both Cascadia and the University of Washington Bothell, have recently contracted with Johnson Controls to provide the campus with ways to reduce energy usage and our carbon footprint. Cascadia is finalizing an agreement with Haley & Aldrich to provide recommendations on geothermal use on campus. (Students will assist in the collection and analysis of data.)
Water use is a second area of focus for the college. Ground water runoff is captured by retaining ponds and then released into the campus wetlands. Automatic flushing mechanisms in toilet stalls were replaced with push buttons. This “Push to Flush” campaign saved 177,000 gallons of water in the first eight months of implementation. Storm water is managed by the campus including the use of oil-water separators for 400 catch-basins.
All lawns are mowed with mulching mowers. The campus is pesticide free and only organic fertilizers and herbicides are used. Goats have been used in the last two years to remove non-native blackberries from woodland areas. Worm bins on campus utilize food and paper waste to produce worm compost for planters and flowerbeds.
Recycling has been part of the campus culture since it opened. Battery and electronics recycling were added in 2009. All outdoor tables, benches and bike lockers are made of recycled materials. Green Cleaning Products are used campus-wide. College purchasing gives preference to supplies made from recycled materials.
The college has replaced two older college automobiles with two Honda Prius Hybrids. We have almost doubled our car-pool parking spaces since 2000. Bus passes for staff and students are partially subsidized by the college. The college is adjacent to a system of paved bicycle trails in the Seattle Metro area and we encourage and promote the use of bicycles for transportation.
In 2008, we became the first academic campus in the state and second in the nation to receive Salmon-Safe Certification.
A new building to open in winter 2010 is being built to meet at least LEEDS Gold standards. We believe that the building may qualify for LEEDS Platinum.
This spring, thanks to a grant by the King County Council, we completed the pre-design for a Wetlands Education Center overlooking the campus wetlands. This center would be both a campus and community resource and include classrooms, labs and an interpretive area. Most importantly, the building has been designed to meet Living Building Standards and be a net zero energy and water use facility.
Administration and Finance:
As a small institution, allocation of resources is particularly important. Still, investments made now will determine, in part, our ability to continue to meet our longer term goals and aspirations. This past year, we have made a number of such investments. We hired a full time tenure track faculty member to oversee the development of our Sustainable Technologies and Sustainable Practices Program. We supplemented a grant to complete a pre-design on a Wetlands Education Center to be built to Living building Standards. We set aside funds to conduct a fund raising feasibility study based on that design. We hired a new Assistant Director for Development to help with external fund raising. We invested in the necessary elements for a new building scheduled to open in 2010 to achieve LEEDS Gold and hopefully Platinum standards. We are currently considering adding a solar array to further reduce energy needs.
Together with the University of Washington Bothell we share the costs of maintaining a pesticide free campus, utilizing worm bins to generate compost, and the maintenance of parking garages to reduce the need to pave open space. We share the costs of monitoring the restored wetlands as mandated by the Army Corps of Engineers. We also agreed to share the cost to hire Johnson Controls to advise us on potential campus-wide energy reduction projects.
Last year, the college supported an administrative sabbatical leave request by our Director of Auxiliary Services to prepare for the LEEDS AP Certification exam. We believe that Cascadia is now one of the few institutions in the nation with a LEEDS AP certified member on staff.
Numerous pages of the College’s website introduce the public to our emphasis on sustainable practices. Information on subsidized bus passes, reduced parking rates for carpools, a history of the college wetlands and a complete list of sustainable practices are easily reached. All faculty recruiting announcements include statements about our Core Values including Environmental Stewardship.
Cascadia signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007. (We are behind in required paperwork but continue to move forward in our efforts, and expect that we will be up to date this fall.) We have been members of the Seattle Climate Partnership since 2006. A number of our faculty are involved in a curriculum project at the Washington Center of Evergreen State University. “Curriculum for the Bioregion" is an initiative that aims to better prepare undergraduates, as well as ourselves, to live in a world where the complex issues of environmental quality, environmental justice, and sustainability are paramount. The president of Cascadia has presented information about sustainable practices a number of state events. We are working closely with the City of Bothell to promote the campus wetlands and the regional bicycle trail. A recent issue of Sunset magazine had a small article about birding in the wetlands. The college also is an active participant in “Sustainable September”, a week-long series of events sponsored by several local communities held annually.
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