Food, Water, Land
Bard Farm Happy Hour. Photo by Karl Rabe

Food, Water, Land

The Bard Campus: nearly 1,200 acres in the Hudson River Valley
The developed portion of campus occupies about 100 acres; the remainder comprises meadows, forests, wetlands, a tidal estuary, and the Saw Kill, a Hudson River tributary. The campus is bounded by the Hudson River to the west. The Saw Kill provides the College with its drinking water. Wastewater is returned to the Saw Kill after treatment. Bard seeks to continuously improve its practices related to water conservation, wastewater, and stormwater. The Bard Farm at the north end of campus has views of the Catskills. 

Land Acknowledgment for Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson

Developed in Cooperation with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community
In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, who are the original stewards of the land. Today, due to forced removal, the community resides in Northeast Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We honor and pay respect to their ancestors past and present, as well as to future generations, and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands. We understand that our acknowledgment requires those of us who are settlers to recognize our own place in and responsibilities toward addressing inequity, and that this ongoing and challenging work requires that we commit to real engagement with the Munsee and Mohican communities to build an inclusive and equitable space for all.

This land acknowledgment, adopted in 2020, required establishing and maintaining long-term, and evolving, relationships with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. The Mellon Foundation's 2022 Humanities for All Times grant for “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” offers three years of support for developing a land acknowledgment–based curriculum, public-facing Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) programming, and efforts to support the work of emerging NAIS scholars and tribally enrolled artists at Bard.

On-Campus Food, Water, and Land Use Initiatives

  • Two people tending crops on the Bard Farm.
    Food and Farming
    The Bard Farm produces vegetables for Bard Dining and has a seasonal weekly Farm Stand on Thursdays. The Bard Farmer & Educator, Rebecca Yoshino, works with a team of students to restore the carbon content of farm soil and provide food to our campus. Staff, students, and faculty collaborate through BardEATS.
  • An aerial view of the Olin parking lot, the Henderson Computer Laboratory building, and Sands Hall.
    Land Use

    In the spaces between our buildings and our natural ecosystems, lie opportunities for sustainable land use innovation.  Our most recent project is underway to transform a 12-acre cornfield to a native pollinator meadow.  With the support of Partners for Climate Action, we are awaiting the emergence of a new biodiverse ecosystem on campus. Learn about more projects here.
  • A panel of people behind a tall desk and a series of audience members in chairs watch a presentation about watershed health on a wall-mounted display.
    Micro Hydropower Project
    In 2016, Bard received $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's Energy to Lead Competition to evaluate the implementation of micro hydropower on one or both of the existing small dams on the College's 1,000-acre campus. On July 28, 2023, a 12kw project on the Annandale Dam was granted an Exemption from Licensing from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  A dedicated website helps explain how this complicated, multidimensional, mutistakeholder project continues to take shape.
    microhydrony.org
  • The Saw Kill dam waterfall on a cloudy day.
    Drinking Water and Water Conservation
    Water makes up more than 75 percent of the Earth's surface, yet only 2.8 percent of it is available for human consumption. The Bard Water Lab is a student-run community lab devoted to bringing water science to water communities. The lab is an initiative of the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities (CESH) in collaboration with the Saw Kill Watershed Community.
    Map of Water Refill Stations
Bard Campus Nature Rx
Winnakee Land Trust land acquisition and site of trail that will connect the V. of Red Hook to Bard

Bard Campus Nature Rx

Bard Campus Nature Rx is an emerging collaboration among campus providers who understand that spending time in nature is good for our health. Watch the map as it grows! 

Maps and Trails

Find Trails in and around Bard:

Bard Campus Interactive GIS map with locations of water refill stations (2023)

Food, Water, Land Use

Water Guidelines and Policies
Low-flow fixtures are plumbing fixtures that use significantly less water than conventional fixtures. They include toilets, urinals, showerheads, and faucets. That translates into measurable savings in both water expenses and sewage expenses, as well as a savings in the energy used to heat the water.  The College specifies low-flow toilets and shower heads, as well as aerators during building new construction as well as during renovation.

If you see a faucet that won't turn off (it drips), let B&G know - put in a Service Request.  Even a seemingly slow drip adds up very quickly to create water and energy waste. 

Bottled water coolers have been replaced by in-line filtration units (NEW: map to locations). These water sources provide hot and cold water, but do so without the need to be refilled with five-gallon plastic bottles of water. They use our existing water supply, which comes from the Saw Kill Creek and is treated by our state-of-the-art drinking water plant (2009 upgrades made possible by the American Investment and Recovery Act).

Water Actions and Materials
Bard has decreased our "direct" use of water (gallons per person) by 30% since 2005 to about 40 gallons /person/day.  But that number does not account for water embodied in food. Did you know it takes about 2000 gallons of water per person per day to produce the average American diet? Producing 1 lb. of beef requires 1,799 gal. of water. Chicken requires 468 gal. (Read more in National Geographic)
Food and Land Use Guidelines and Policies
  • The 2020–23 Sustainability Report (STARS) describes our Landscape Management (including Integrated Pest Management, native plants, wildlife management, Tree Campus USA status, snow and ice removal policies and compost program) as well as the Rainwater Management. 
Food and Land Use Actions and Materials
Bard ProgramsCommunity Partners