The Bard Campus: nearly 1,000 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 and is part of the Hudson River Direct Drainage area, Saw Kill Subwatershed. The Saw Kill provides the College with its drinking water. Wastewater is returned to the Saw Kill after it is treated at our sewer treatment plant. Bard seeks to continuously improve its practices related to water conservation, wastewater, and stormwater.Food, Water, and Land Use Initiatives
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Food and Farming on CampusThe Bard Farm produces vegetables for Bard Dining and has a seasonal weekly farmstand. The Bard Farm Educator, Rebecca Yoshino, collaborates with the Bard Land Lab to investigate methods for determining the carbon content of farm soil. The College and the dining provider are committed to improving the food system. By 2019, more than 20% of food met the definition of real food according to the student-driven Real Food Challenge. Staff, students, and faculty collaborate through BardEATS. -
Stormwater and WastewaterStormwater comes from rain or melting snow that doesn’t soak into the ground but runs off into waterways. Non–point source pollution from stormwater runoff is a leading cause of stream health degradation in New York State. Bard was awarded funding from New York State to implement a Regional Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project at the Olin parking lot that addressed stormwater runoff from a 9-acre drainage area on the Bard campus.
Stormwater and Wastewater
Stormwater comes from rain or melting snow that doesn’t soak into the ground but runs off into waterways. Non–point source pollution from stormwater runoff is a leading cause of stream health degradation in New York State. Bard was awarded funding from New York State to implement a Regional Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project at the Olin parking lot that addressed stormwater runoff from a 9-acre drainage area on the Bard campus.
Olin Parking Lot
The Bard Regional Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project at Olin addresses storm-water runoff from a 9-acre drainage area on the Bard campus. The project used permeable asphalt, porous paver walkways, a constructed wetland, bioretention and bioswales. The project ultimately cleans water before entering the Saw Kill, which is Bard’s drinking water source. Does it work? Professor Robyn Smyth's Environmental & Urban Studies students use the site as a living laboratory for their classwork.
Low Impact Development / Green Infrastructure Features – how we slow down water and help clean it up:- 81-space permeable parking lot (asphalt); 25,500 square feet
- Constructed wetland – walk around the path and find a frog
- Permeable paver walkway
- (2) small bioswales in the lawn south of Henderson computer lab
- Native planting along east side of parking lot
- Vegetated bioretention swale on the west side
- Does it work? the Hose Test
- Installing at the north end
- Rainy day drive into south end,
- Bucket Demo
- North end under construction (includes ponding on walkway, porous parking working at entrance)
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Micro Hydropower ProjectIn 2016, Bard received $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's Energy to Lead Competition to evaluate and implement micro hydropower on existing small dams on the College's 1,000-acre campus. A dedicated website helps explain how this complicated, multidimensional, mutistakeholder project continues to take shape. -
Drinking Water and Water ConservationWater 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 the Study of Land, Air, and Water in collaboration with the Saw Kill Watershed Community.
Maps and Trails