Creating a local scientific campus could bring more jobs and housing to the area.
Article from Telluride Daily Planet
By Mia Rupani | March 4, 2025
Representatives from the Telluride Institute gave a presentation to the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners last week about the organization’s goal of creating an environmental and cultural center in the area. The presentation included comparing the total revenue for environmental nonprofits in Telluride with other communities.
The Telluride Institute recently introduced its ambitious goal of creating an environmental and cultural center in the area.
Representatives from the Telluride Institute met with the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners last week to present the project, which is in the conceptualization phase.
“We’re very glad to be meeting on this beautiful land so loved by all of us…and still loved by our Ute and other indigenous neighbors,” said Telluride Institute co-founder Pam Lifton-Zoline. “Arguably, the most significant thing any of us who live here can do…is support the health of these great forests.”
Lifton-Zoline said Telluride Institute recently had a meeting with Megan Eno, Norwood District Ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, to discuss acquiring “significant” land for the project.
“We are in the early conceptual stages of working with the U.S. Forest Service, and we hope with you all to plan and develop a strategic campus,” she said. “We have the sense that there are opportunities to be pursued, though no one is under the illusion it will be easy or quick.”
The campus would address local environmental and cultural needs by blending scientific research, traditional indigenous knowledge, and the arts.
Lifton-Zoline said the campus would also include housing.
“[It] would be made up of affordable, handsome housing at high sustainability standards for design and energy,” she said. “Modest facilities for nonprofits, education and gatherings would also be part of the mix.”
Lifton-Zoline made it clear that the Telluride Institute is not in the business of being a developer; instead, the organization hopes to bring critical ideas to the table and be the catalyst for necessary change.
“The campus will allow us to gather information that will make for intelligent futureproofing, while rebalancing our community,” she said.
One possible location for the campus is the land adjacent to the community of San Bernardo and the Pathfinder gravel pit, which the county previously expressed interest in redeveloping as affordable housing.
Telluride Institute Executive Director Tucker Szymkowicz detailed the challenges many nonprofits in Telluride face.
“One thing I learned from working in the nonprofit sector in Telluride is that we have a lot of niche organizations,” he said. “Environmental nonprofits frequently operate in isolation, which limits collaboration and impact.”
Szymkowicz said these nonprofits lack a dedicated space, which could be solved with the creation of the campus.
“We do not have a centralized hub for environmental education, outreach and research like other resort towns,” he said, pointing to educational organizations like the Teton Science Schools and Walking Mountains Science Center.
Goals for the campus would include establishing a community of residents and visiting professors to provide expertise in areas of science, engineering, technology and mathematics. The Telluride Institute would work with local government, businesses and homeowners to address environmental and climate concerns and hold workshops, discussions and citizen-scientist events, as well as undertake community projects and create nature trails, outdoor classrooms and accessible trail systems.
Szymkowicz said there are also economic benefits to creating the campus.
“Telluride has a really strong resort economy at the moment, but there are less pathways to staying in the area,” he said.
The campus would help diversify the workforce, boost the local economy and improve eligibility for grants, donations and revenue streams.
The total revenue in 2023 for environmental nonprofits in Telluride was about $1.9 million, according to Szymkowicz, which is far less than other communities in Colorado. The Walking Mountains Science Center, for example, located in Avon, had a revenue of $4.5 million in 2023.
“This is not just about the Institute or about green projects,” Lifton-Zoline said. “It’s a larger community vision.”
The commissioners were largely in favor of the project, but acknowledged it could take many years and a lot of work to accomplish.
Commissioner Galena Gleason called the concept “incredibly refreshing and exciting.”
“This is, and I’ll just speak for myself, super exciting,” commissioner Anne Brown said. “It’s a grand vision, which I know the Telluride Institute is known for, and I hope you will keep us up to date as your plans develop.”
