Grounds and Landscaping

For more than twenty years, Naropa University landscapers have used environmentally sound practices, creating a campus that is a model of sustainability and regenerative land management.

Always innovative and seeking to improve, Naropa University currently uses the following approaches to eco-landscaping:

• Composting all plant material.
• Creating habitat for bees and pollinators.
• Never using any "cides" - no pesticides, herbicides, etc.
• Planting many edible and medicinal plants.
• Using products that are biodegradable and/or organic.
• Always incorporating principles of permaculture.
• Actively working to improve water conservation by upgrading and modifying existing irrigation systems.
• Incorporating new technology at the Paramita Campus, such as subsurface irrigation linked to an on-site weather station that supplies water to the lawn and gardens only in the proper quantities and only at the proper times. By delivering water directly to the root zone, evaporation is all but eliminated. In what is known as "fertigation," organic liquid fertilizers also flow through the irrigation system, delivering minute and constant levels of fertilizer throughout the growing season, which improves plant health and reduces maintenance.
• Phasing out the use of fossil fuel equipment by purchasing electric mowers and trimmers, as well as through the use of biodiesel for the maintenance truck and bobcat.