About 28 people gathered at the beautiful Zero Energy home and gardens of former OLT Board President Dan Jones on Sunday August 17th to support OLT's Wastewater Treatment Plant Campaign. Fresh vegetables from Dan's garden and greenhouse, cookies from Matt's Bakery in Taos and local wine and beer samplings in abundance added to the festive afternoon! New Executive Director Doug Bishop, OLT founders Neil and Terry Seitz, and Board Members Chris Miller and John Standish attended, along with Development Director, Pam Nelson. $2700 was raised (net) from this "$100 pp suggested donation" event. OLT thanks Dan Jones for his generous hosting of this event and for preparing all the sumptuous hors d'oeuvres fresh from his garden. As fundraising plans ramp up to fund the WWTP upgrades, we encourage others to host such regional benefit gatherings in their homes. Please contact Pam Nelson if interested in hosting such an event at 719-298-2289 or if you are able to suggest any no cost/ low cost venues on the Front Range for larger speaker events and/ or similar smaller gatherings. All fundraising ideas are welcome and will be shared with the new External Affairs Committee for discussion.

Long-time Orient Land Trust supporter, John Lorenz, will offer San Luis Valley and OLT inspired photographs for sale at The Fritz restaurant in Salida during the month of October. An opening reception with refreshments and a cash bar will happen Saturday, October 4th from 4 to 6 pm. Martin Jolley and other artists will also offer art for sale. A minimum of 30% of sales has been promised for the WWTP Fund.

Following the reception, the party will move over to Wood's Distillery on First Street where over 12 artists will also have paintings, photographs and sculptures available for purchase, again with a minimum of 30% being donated to the WWTP Fund. The show and sale at Wood's will only be available from October 3rd through that weekend.

Artists participating include Joshua Been, Laura Been, Laura Barton, Jimmy Descant, current and past Valley View Hosts: Evette Twyford, Karen Johnson and Kevin The Camp Host, John Lorenz, Martin Jolley, Curtis Killorn, Peggy Wilson, Cary Carlson and others to be announced by the 1st of October. If you would like to donate art or participate in this event, please contact Martin at .

We are hoping to see all of you who enjoy Valley View at both the Fritz and at the Distillery on Saturday, October 4th. If you can't make it then, please visit the Fritz during October. Remember, we are working to raise up to $180,000 to build the replacement for the antiquated "chocolate jacuzzi". Thank you.

OLT finally received the needed ground water discharge permit from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) after a four year process that allows OLT to engage contractors for the construction of the project. We are currently obtaining bids as we await final design approval from the state. OLT plans to break ground on the new WWTP facilities this fall with completion expected in about 6-8 weeks. The new WWTP upgrades will be odorless, quiet and a great improvement to the overall wastewater treatment capacity at OLT. The WWTP campaign financing this project stands at $38,000 to date with a goal of $180,000.

Visitors to the OLT’s Valley View Hot Springs may not realize that the water that warms them in the Apple Tree Pools also heats cabins via radiant underfloor piping, and then is used to generate electricity, which in turn heats the pools and provides power to the campus. This remarkable system is one of the unique things about Valley View, and an integral part of the facility’s “recycle, reuse, reduce” commitment.

OLT member Tom Bowes visited in October 2013 and took a tour of the hydroelectric generating station, hosted by OLT’s Master Electrician, Scott Wilfong. Scott demonstrated the means of controlling the water flow rate to the turbine, via the hydraulically operated “spear valve” powered by an electric motor. He explained that at one time the valve had been remotely controlled by means of a telephone line, connected to a control box that had been provided as part of the original hydroelectric equipment. Unfortunately, a lightning strike had blown out the controls and damaged the phone line a number of years ago, relegating the system to a rather crude method of manual control by means of two wires touched to an old car battery to operate the valve. When touched to the battery one way the valve would open, the other way and it would close.

This method of control was inconvenient to say the least, since one person had to drive the 2.2 miles to the hydro station to manipulate the valve, while another stood within sight of the collector box at the top of the penstock pipe. Two-way radios were used to communicate back and forth to increase or decrease the water flow rate based on the amount of water flowing over the weir at the collector box. This meant that at least twice a week, before and after pool cleaning, somebody had to go to the hydro plant to make adjustments. It also meant that at times excess water flowed over the weir and was lost, instead of being used to generate electricity, which was problematic in the winter when every kilowatt is needed to heat the Apple Tree Pools. Added to this, there was no effective way to monitor the operation of the system remotely in order to respond to a problem before the hydro system automatically shut down.

After the hydro tour, Tom, who is an electrician/instrumentation technician from Warren, Michigan, remarked that he might be able to come up with a new remote control system, and would donate it to the OLT. He began the design while recovering from knee surgery last December. Using a few new items, some repurposed items from eBay, and many “junk box” parts left over from other projects, he designed and built a new control system for the hydro plant. A recycled industrial pressure transmitter that had been cast off from a petroleum refinery found redemption as the primary sensor for this renewable energy project. Old pipe flanges from a gas-fired boiler were made into support stands for the spear valve position sensor and for the control box. It was rumored in Detroit that Tom could be heard chanting, “recycle, repurpose and re-use”, as he worked through the cold winter evenings building the system. The new design would feature a wireless data link between the OLT visitor center and the hydro plant, remote control via the internet, and automatic notifications and alarms to key facilities personnel in case of a problem.

In late January enough of the control system was assembled and tested that the OLT team of Interim Director Mark Jacobi, Information Manager Doug Bates, and Electrician Scott Wilfong were able to watch a brief YouTube video that Tom had made showing its design and operation. They were also able to remotely control the system, while it was located near Detroit. The team worked with Tom via email and phone to address areas of concern and to refine the design as he worked on things in Michigan. In late March, Tom and his girlfriend, Linda Diane Feldt, loaded up his Chevy Volt with what appeared to be “everything but the kitchen sink” and drove to Valley View for a busy week of installation. They were fortunate to witness the great migration of Sandhill Cranes near Kearney, Nebraska on their way.

Work on the installation began on Monday, March 24th, with Tom, Scott, and Doug tackling the various things that had to be done at the hydro station, with assistance from Mark Jacobi. Doug and Linda Diane documented the event with many photos and videos. After a couple of 10-12 hour work days, at lunch time on Wednesday, March 26th, a trial was conducted with the wireless transmitter for the visitor center temporarily pointing out the window toward the hydro plant. Success! The new system provided wireless control and monitoring of the hydro plant two miles away. Later that afternoon Mark and Doug mounted the transmitter in its final position near the peak of the visitor center roof, the final step in a months-long project.

The new control and monitoring system has already prevented a couple of shutdowns due to algae and weed obstructions of the water at the collector box, saving the OLT on expensive diesel fuel to run the backup generator when the hydro system goes down. Bearing, air, and water temperatures are now measured and logged, along with relative water flow rates. Head pressure and frequency alarms for the hydro plant, delivered via email and text messages, now help to alert OLT personnel if there is a problem. In the longer term, logging the water flow and temperature data will help the OLT to develop energy management strategies and will help to provide more comfortable soaking for visitors during the winter and spring months.

The OLT thanks Tom Bowes and Linda Diane Feldt for their work and generous donation.

Honoring Orient Land Trust

Earth's crust waxes thin in our desert,
a skin of hot waters rising, sparse rains
cooling this patchwork of pinon and sage,
pounding forces too star-staged to fight.
And so we roll like morning light,
like dunes, like ant hills, like the waves
of the one-time sea now
disappeared into our aquifer, crystal-centered.

In the silence descending from the Sangres
the rhythms grow obvious
as the petite sunflowers lining our dirt roads.
Anything but blank, our lives
hold down the slim soils, watering
whatever will greenly ascend
to the primal friends who lessen our toil,
illumining our way, nights, days,
pulling radiance through bare twigs for pine nuts
that feed a hundred species.
We serve the recharge—in the swell of sands
we bow to rejuvenation, to the waters
that pool in our foothills
like dew in fern cups,
like tears in a palm.
Raw in wonder, we ask
how to tend the land
with the hoe of listening.

In the silence descending from the Sangres
the rhythms grow clear
as breath—in and out—the same
as Mule Deer, the endangered
Sage Grouse, the bobcat none of us can hear,
the black bear waking hot-breathed from winter.
Vapors swirl our cool mornings,
blessed from below.
Our roots of water grow.
And so our conservation climbs like steam, drifts
like snow to honor the land, the moss rocks
in creeks above us singing
lasting lyrics of a stewardship we mime,
in an immaculate web we must sustain.

"In the Silence Descending, continued with strophe break, page 2.

In the silence descending from the Sangres
the rhythms grow sacred,
our springs healing chaos, the concreteness of grief,
pond pebbles glistening beyond belief, a smoothness
born of eons of the struggles we imbibe
to transform, hard buds
having the courage to bloom.
Finally. The land is quiet, so stilled,
the sky as free. Here we stand
like an ancient tree, arms to the Sun
and roots into what remains unseen.

In the silence descending from the Sangres
we ground the timeless rhythmic ways.

By William Howell based on word pictures, thoughts and impressions shared by staff members Pam Nelson and Dave Beaulieu

Crestone
August,2013