Geothermal wells and Classroom Walls
May has looked and felt more like June this year- not a bad thing for moving work along. Structural panels continue to be assembled on our 11,000 square foot main facility while in areas already completed, other work is already progressing. Graywater drainlines, storm drains, venting and water supply lines are coming together in the basement while the radiant tubing for in-floor heat is being placed and cast in concrete on the main level. The radiant tubes will exchange heat by indirect contact with an antifreeze loop that is pumped into a series of wells, each of which is around 250' deep.
A geothermal well take about a day to drill and our system requires eight of them. We place long loops of polyethelyne pipe in the holes, then pack a special grout into the well to seal the pipe in place. Those loops come above ground now but they will eventually be attached to a header below ground that brings the antifreeze from the wells to the mechanical spaces in the basement. Befor the header gets placed, the area needs to dry out. Drilling requires water, as does the activation of the grout, and in our location, we also hit some minor aquifers that added to the imrpovised mud season.
The water well is slated to get started before the end of this month with a derrick twice the size of the geothermal rig. We'll also be trenching for water and electrical supply, bolting the student housing girders together, and sheetrocking the caretaker home.
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on May 23, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Wyss progress - Mid-April Photos
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Apr 26, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Excellent EB for the good of the river
Friday brought beautiful weather and buses full of eager Lander Middle School students to the banks of the Little Popo Agie River, where they practiced expedition behavior and developed their environmental ethic.
All afternoon the students, with direction from NOLS instructors, Popo Agie Anglers volunteers, Trout Unlimited representatives, Wyoming Game and Fish Department employees, and Popo Agie Conservation District members, planted 700 willow cuttings to stabilize the river’s banks. The willows will serve to stabilize the river banks and provide protection for the river’s fish populations.
The willows students helped plant will prevent erosion on corners like these in the future. Lindsay D'Addato photo
Friday’s community effort also included a number of educational facets for the young volunteers, ranging from fly fishing to GPS navigation, from aquatic biology to ways to prevent snakebites.The event took place at a Red Canyon Public Fishing Access fishing access adjacent to the Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus and was the second and final step in the Red Canyon River Bank Stabilization project. Read more about the first day of the undertaking here.
Students practice their fly-fishing technique near the river that will soon be a better home for fish. Lindsay D'Addato photo
Permalink | Posted by Casey Dean on Apr 23, 2012 in the following categories: Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, Rocky Mountain, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Check your map for Earth Day events
The mission of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) has always been to be the source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. On Earth Day, NOLS locations will bring these backcountry practices to the frontcountry by taking part in events in their respective communities.
The staff of NOLS Alaska will be hitting the road this Earth Day, literally. The crew is planning to tackle their annual cleanup of Farm Loop road—a three-mile stretch of road that leads up to the Palmer headquarters.
The cleanup, which is a part of the annual staff orientation day, happens each spring once the snowmelt has progressed enough to allow for it. This year, the orientation day has been scheduled to coordinate with Earth Day.
“After our long winters, the receding snows offer any number of roadside ‘treasures,’” said Don Ford, NOLS Alaska director. “It is a great time to show our new staff what is able to be recycled at the Valley Recycling Center, to show our neighbors that we care, and to have a good time. The most unusual find of the day always gets a laugh!”
The NOLS Southwest staff will also be supporting Earth Day by getting involved in Let’s G.O! (Get Outside) on Saturday, April 21. Supported by other organizations such as 4-H, Sierra Club, and Parks in Focus, the event will have different outdoor activity stations (play-stations), for children and adults that focus on getting active in the outdoors and creating healthy communities.
The entire NOLS Southwest staff will participate in the event and will host several play-stations, including include learning to make bracelets and key chains using old webbing and cordelette and an orienteering/treasure hunt station, as well as assisting with set-up and breakdown of the event and serving lunch.
“NOLS Southwest is excited to be working with the other sponsors of this event to provide an opportunity for kids and families to get outside and celebrate Earth Day,” wrote Nick Cross, assistant director at NOLS Southwest. “We as a branch have been making an effort to get more involved in the Tucson community, finding ways to volunteer and make positive contributions to events/organizations that we identify with.”
NOLS Headquarters and NOLS Rocky Mountain, both located in Lander, Wyo., are teaming up and joining a number of invaluable community partners to make two projects happen over the weekend. NOLS is co-sponsoring a riverbank stabilization project in Red Canyon on April 20 and a community garden build at two locations on the Wind River Reservation on April 27. At both events, volunteers will be working with students from local schools in an effort to educate attendees about the environment while building stronger community ties.
On April 20 in Red Canyon, students and organizers will plant willow cuttings along the banks of the little Popo Agie with a group of students from Lander Middle School. Working with the Popo Agie Anglers, Trout Unlimited, Wyoming Game and Fish and the Popo Agie Conservation District the group not only be preventing erosion but also teaching a Red Canyon place-based curriculum. For more on this event, check out our recent blog post about the first step.
After students harvested willows early this month and soaked them for a few weeks, they are now ready to be planted along Wyoming river banks. Lindsay D'Addato photo.
On April 27, Lander NOLS folks and partners are fully psyched to get their hands dirty alongside students from the Fort Washakie Charter School to build raised beds and fencing for two new community gardens in Ft. Washakie. The project is the brainchild of Fred Groenke, an avid farmer, teacher, and director of the Wind River Native Science Field Center. The project was designed to create public awareness of the importance of preserving our natural environment and developing and maintaining sustainable growing practices that promote healthy lifestyles and connect us with the natural world. We at NOLS are providing volunteer support and organizing a nutritious lunch for volunteers. And on that note, we should give thanks where they are due to BOCES Green Construction, and the Wind River Diabetes Program for their support as well as Apple Valley Market and Mr. D’s Grocery for answering the food donation call.
So come on out to one of these amazing events in celebration and support of your local NOLS community and the larger, global community that you are a part of!
Permalink | Posted by Casey Dean on Apr 17, 2012 in the following categories: Alaska, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, Rocky Mountain, Southwest, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Steady Progress at the Main Building
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Apr 16, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
LMS Students Get Outside to Protect the Little Popo Agie
What do you get when you mix 120 middle schoolers, branch loppers, and a need for willow cuttings to stabilize cut-banks along the Little Popo Agie River? You might be thinking missing digits, but on a beautiful spring afternoon this week, the answer was 700 willow cuttings and a highly successful first installment of the Red Canyon River Bank Stabilization project.
One student trimming a willow cutting at Red Canyon. Photo credit: Lindsay D’Addato
We felt incredibly lucky to have such a positive and motivated group of students from the Lander Middle School come out to Red Canyon for the afternoon on Tuesday. Along with harvesting and trimming willows, students rotated through a series of classes, including: a macro-invertebrates class from the Popo Agie Conservation District’s Dave Morneau; a fly casting clinic; a geo-caching tutorial; and a Dangerous Flora and Fauna of Red Canyon class by WMI’s own Anna Gast. It was a great opportunity for students to explore the many ways that they can enjoy the amazing lands surrounding Lander.
Students eagerly participated in a class on Red Canyon flora and fauna Tuesday afternoon. Photo credit: Lindsay D’Addato.
It was smiles all around as volunteers from the Popo Agie Anglers and teachers and staff from school shuffled students through classes and willow cutting. We want to express thanks to Nan Slingerland, Donn Kesselheim, Gary Blackwelder, and The Nature Conservancy who gave us permission to harvest on their land.
An LMS student learning the ins and outs of the fly cast. Photo Credit: Lindsay D’Addato
The willow cuttings that were harvested at this event are going to soak for the next two weeks, and will be planted at the Red Canyon Public Fishing Access on April 20th from 12pm – 3pm with the help of the same group of all-stars from the middle school. We’re also planning to continue developing the Red Canyon-specific curriculum.
If you are interested in volunteering at the planting event on April 20th, please send an e-mail to David Clark-Barol, ES&S intern, at david_clark-barol@nols.edu.
Check out a video of all the action at the County 10 website.
Permalink | Posted by Dave Clark-Barol on Apr 4, 2012 in the following categories: Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, In The News, Rocky Mountain, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Final forms emerging at one locale, structure taking form elsewhere.
The Caretaker Residence is really coming along-
-while the central building is beginning to get the framning for the main floors:
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Mar 29, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Risk Management Conference, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Wood workin'
Construction at the Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus is rolling forward with carpenters framing the floors and walls of the caretaker residence and the anticipated shipment of the trusses and lumber package for the main building. Bids from electrical and mechanical subcontractors have been evaluated and the work has been awarded to Inter-Mountain Electric, Rawhide Plumbing, Sweetwater Aire, and Mechanical Innovations and that rough-in work will proceed immediately.
We have also moved forward with selection of a well driller who is already working with Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to design a cased well expected to be 1,100-1,300' deep. Structural steel shop drawings have been approved and fabrication for floor girders and plates is in process. Final phase drawings have been delivered for the residences and remaining final phase plans for the main building are scheduled for March 6th. Neighborhood utility upgrades are on schedule which allows us to schedule trenching for new power feeders into the campus transformers.
Telecommunication connectivity challenges are being countered with an emerging microwave system and ongoing research concerning optimal placement of any amplification and antennae for cell signals. The Popo Agie Anglers will partner with NOLS, Wyoming Game and Fish, Trout Unlimited and local middle schools to spearhead a willow planting along the public fishing access to improve fish habitat and to augment existing revetments which stabilize our flood plain pastures.
Central Wyoming College students will be surveying the historic ranch buildings on the property and will produce a folio which will provide curriculum about the previous uses of the property and the prehistoric as well as pioneer-era evidence that has survived. Remaining uncertainty surrounding costs is receding as costs are finalized and 27% of the project has been expensed. We continue to expect substantial completion in September of this year.
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Mar 12, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Wyss Campus Time-lapse
The educational facility is ready for floor joists and decking, SIP panels, and rain storage tanks. Weather calls for 20-40% chance of snow in the Lander foothills but day time temperatures are still clearing freezing, making the site a little muddy. Our mess is confined, however, and native grasses and drought tolerant species will landscape the area of disturbance when construction traffic slows down.
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Feb 14, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
Pulling Forms from New Walls
Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus continues to take shape with completion of foundation walls at the main facility. Steel forms, pictured below, are assembled to be perfectly level, square, and plumb.
Before concrete is delivered, blankets are used to keep the cavity between the forms from accumulating snow. After the concrete is poured, hoses with circulating anti-freeze are draped over the forms and then covered by blankets once more.
With mild January temperatures, we could probably get by with a day or two of supplemental heat. Instead, we're choosing to give the concrete heat and support for three days before peeling back the blankets and popping off the forms. Then the heat goes back on with blankets for a few more days.
The resulting walls are pale when first exposed. The photo above illustrates the basement access door, diamond and square shaped pads for future columns, and washed stone that has been backfilled and tamped to a flat compated surface. Rain storage tanks will sit on the gravel between the posts.
The walls top more than 10' in spots but backfilling dirt against insulation will limit the amount of wall that will stick up above outside ground level. No concrete will be visible from the outside when we finish- the wall will be completely insulated and covered with cement based stucco and a blend of different metal finishes.
Six days after pouring, the excavators and loaders are packing dirt into the exterior nooks and crannies to establish the rough elevation of final grade. There will be a lot of hard use of the area right around the building so all landscaping will be put on hold until we are much closer to completion. For now, the limited snow and above freezing temperatures are keeping the site muddy and spring-like but we still have a lot of winter to go.
Permalink | Posted by jstoddard on Jan 31, 2012 in the following categories: Wilderness Medicine Institute, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus
