Merced College, Los Banos campus, breaks ground on Food Forest

Merced College’s Los Banos campus on Friday held a dedication and groundbreaking ceremony for its Food Forest, a garden area that will be arranged with fruit-bearing trees, berry bushes and herbs along the area between the campus parking lots and the Los Banos Creek.

The two professors responsible for the project, biology professor Cary Coburn and English professor Susan Kimoto, were present at Friday’s ceremony. Also attending were Los Banos Dean Brenda Latham, Merced College President Ron Taylor, landscape architect Margarett Harrison and Merced College trustees Joe Gutierrez, from the board’s Los Banos area, and Wayne Hicks.

“This piece will be a lot about environmental science – understanding how plants work together and, even in the construction phase, understanding how we can retain the water we have, the couple of inches we get each year,” Latham said. “Opportunities for education abound.”

The campus was selected among 54 environmental nonprofits to receive Wells Fargo environmental grants. Wells Fargo representatives were on hand to present a $50,000 check Friday.

Hicks, while supportive of the project, said he took issue with the process behind it. The dedication and groundbreaking took place Friday, but board approval is on the agenda for today. The project was made possible from $99,000 worth of matching in-kind contributions from the district, as well as the contract with Harrison to design the project. The matching in-kind contributions were non-cash, such as land and equipment.

Hicks said he didn’t know about the project until he read about it in the Merced Sun-Star.

“I’m not saying I’m against it. I think it’s a great idea. My vote will be public (tonight),” Hicks said. “But myself as a board member, I was taken aback that I had to read about it in the Merced Sun-Star, and as you see, we had the presentation today, and it was lovely. The reason I came and heard about it is because I found out more now than I did as a trustee.”

He said he doesn’t want to stop the project, but he plans on bringing up the process at today’s meeting for discussion.

Harrison, who said she has been a landscape architect for 27 years and began her own firm about five years ago, detailed a similar community garden project in Seattle.

“I’m expecting bigger and better things after meeting with this group down here,” she said, adding that she will have planning meetings open to Los Banos residents. “We want to really make it what the community wants and needs.”

Latham said the Los Banos forest would consist of plants that are appropriate to the local environment, especially in the water-conscious Central Valley. She said the plan was to dig a bowl, then fill it with organic matter, such as dead tree stumps, that will break down slowly and retain water.

“It’s not going to be like Kentucky Blue lawn or anything. They will be appropriate to the area,” Latham said with a laugh. “The way that the groundwork will be done will allow water to percolate down and hold in the site, so as those trees get mature we won’t have to water them, but in the initial phases we will.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2014 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Merced College, Los Banos campus, breaks ground on Food Forest."