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Our Mission, Our Work
The Vesper Meadow Education Program is building a culture of land stewardship and nature connection. We are up-cycling a model for people-powered restoration with community involvement in scientific monitoring, native plant cultivation, experiential learning, and nature-inspired art. Our programs provide an integrated approach to cultivating and sustaining the human-nature connection.
Public workshops, K-12 Programming, Student internships, and all of our programming is enriched with biological observation, conservation science, art, ethnobotanical and cultural understandings.
Our primary outpost is the Vesper Meadow Restoration Preserve, a 1,000 acre mix of upland wet meadows, conifer forests, and open shrub-steppe hillslopes in the heart of the Cascade-Siskiyou region. The Vesper Meadow Restoration Preserve is recovering from over a century of heavy forest and meadow use, and now serves as a biocultural restoration demonstration site for the Vesper Meadow Education Program. All restoration efforts are made with the intention to restore and enhance:
the natural hydrology of Latgawa Creek
the native plant community, and biodiversity reflective of the greater Cascade-Siskiyou region
Indigenous connections through Tribal partnership and self-determined goals for First Food land management
imperiled wildlife habitat for Mardon Skipper, Vesper Sparrow, and other rare species detected through ongoing monitoring efforts
the ecological integrity of the creek, meadow, and forest-slope habitat for climate resiliency
creating enhanced opportunities for human relationship with the land
Our Framework: Biocultural restoration
is one approach to restoration that acknowledges and builds on reciprocal relationships between humans and nature, and allows for contemporary and/or historical relationships between local communities and place to guide restoration design and practices, including species selection (Kimmerer 2013, Kurashima et al. 2017, Chang et al. 2019)
“Action on behalf of life transforms.
Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Stewardship way of life
Give back to the land. Spend time with it and get to know its inhabitants. Become more deeply connected with nature and your inspired self. Participate in meaningful experiences that strengthen the land steward network, and foster a more resilient place for all to live.
We are in it for the long game; we practice study and work that will serve humans and natural systems in a changing climate. All are invited to come share their skills, exchange ideas, and co-create a community hub that is welcoming and inclusive. Join the vision for a more just and resilient world.