<< Back 10/8/02 The future of Denver’s work in the mountains By J. Marie Lloyd Seven Springs Center in Haywood County will host a weekend to honor the life and works of Denver Oct. 11-13. Call 926.9979 for more information. “It will be a venue for people to share stories, pictures, grief, hopes and dreams,” said Patricia Carroll, co-owner of the center. “This is grassroots. This is more for the world than it is for us.” The biodome at the Seven Springs Center in Haywood County catches the eye: it’s a 50-foot-diameter geodesic dome made of glass. It is the structural legacy left by singer and songwriter John Denver and Windstar. The concept of a crystal-like geodesic dome was a spinoff of the work done by Buckminster Fuller, called Deresonated Tensegrity Structures. His work set the stage for the 1982 wood frame prototype and the 1986 aluminum biodome built on the Windstar property in Colorado. Windstar was started in the 1970s by co-founders Denver and Tom Crum. During the 1980s, the foundation hosted educational programs on alternative technology and gardening. The biodome in Haywood County was designed and built by John Katzenberger. Katzenberger is currently the director of AGCI, an organization “which furthers science and education about science related to global environmental change.” Prior to that, he served Windstar and its mission to demonstrate appropriate technology and organic food production. It was in the 1980s that Katzenberger coined the phrase biodome. Fuller was aware of the concept and endorsed it. He died, however, before the first biodome was fully operational. “This was just after the oil crisis of 1973 and 1979, and many people were interested in way they could do to their own homes so that they would use less fossil fuels. To grow food in the high mountain environment required the introduction of various solar heating techniques to increase the growing season, such as solar cold frames and greenhouses designed to retain heat better than a typical greenhouse,” said Katzenberger. The first biodome measured 25 feet in diameter, while the second more sophisticated biodome was 50 feet in diameter. In 1986, while the second biodome was under construction, Katzenberger and crew were visited by Hans Keller from Waynesville. Keller arranged to have a similar biodome built on his property in Haywood County. That project was completed the same year and turned over to Keller for maintenance and operation. It was a pilot project, the first of 10 biodomes of different sizes in different climates to be evaluated to determine how to refine the growing system. The Waynesville biodome was originally a three level structure designed to be a sustainable, year-round food production site. Each element of the project would feed another. It would prove that food production in an organic, sustainable manner as a viable option. “I think it was during the summer of 1987 that John Denver was in the east to film Foxfire. During this time he visited the Waynesville biodome to coincide with a public open house hosted by Hans Keller. At this point, the Waynesville biodome was just beginning to produce food. A project of this scale requires nearly a full-time gardener also adept in aquaculture. How long this was kept up by Hans I do not know,” said Katzenberger. In 1989, the Windstar Board of Directors began to de-emphasize the land and agriculture projects. Both Windstar biodomes were dismantled by the early 1990s. “I came to the Waynesville biodome during a trip east of October 2001. The large fish tanks which provided solar heating and cooling were gone, the second and third story floors are also gone. The glazing, a triple wall polycarbonate designed to have a useful life of 10 years, needs replacement. The frame itself looks much the same, but it is clear the structure has had little maintenance in recent years,” said Katzenberger. Patricia Carroll, who is the new owner of the property and co-owner of the Seven Springs Center located there, is changing that. Lee Barnes is the environmental manager at the Seven Springs Center. One of his tasks is restoring the biodome. He is now working to achieve a sub-divided permaculture. Permaculture, or permanent agriculture, is based on the natural model of the region, stressing sustainability by circulating plant and animal systems. It is a multi-storied interaction that makes efficient use of biological resources. The biodome will limit outside resources, attempting to be self-contained, by using the approach that “there is no waste, only potential resources.” “(It will be) A modern model out of natural eco-systems to duplicate as cultural eco-systems,” explained Barnes. “Instead of growing one crop, we are growing a diversity of plants, to give them insurance against disease and insect attacks.” That approach, emphasizing diversity, will aid in achieving year-round plant and herb production. “Everything in balance,” stresses Barnes as he talks of his organic methods for growing all things from the medicinal to the edible. He also has his eye on aesthetics. The summer poinsettia is an example of the diversity and use of natural means of cultivation. “It adds beauty, it’s edible and it attracts beneficial insects,” said Barnes. “We want maximum production, to use all of the available options, root level, soil level, bush-like things and plants that vine, to use the vertical space.” The restoration of the biodome keeps alive the Windstar project and part of Denver’s legacy.