On Sacred Ground’s environmental stewardship efforts draw on permaculture ethics

On Sacred Ground shares an update about the work they’re doing on San Juan Island and beyond — and they’re look­ing for vol­un­teers to join their Island Mar­ble But­ter­fly program.

In 2012 On Sacred Ground, a 501c3, was estab­lished to heal, edu­cate, stew­ard and pro­vide a Gar­den of Eden for gen­er­a­tions to come. We use the three per­ma­cul­ture ethics to deter­mine our vision, involve­ment, and action plan – care of earth, care of peo­ple and fair share (or share the sur­plus). We look for inno­v­a­tive ways to raise the bar on envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship best man­age­ment prac­tices, and we pur­sue mean­ing­ful inter­sec­tions of social, eco­log­i­cal and finan­cial jus­tice. We real­ize the envi­ron­men­tal com­mon­wealth we share in the San Juan Islands is pre­cious, worth fight­ing for, and rep­re­sents a bet­ter bal­ance with the nat­ur­al world than many are lucky enough to experience.

Our unique approach through a per­ma­cul­ture lens allows us to focus on con­ser­va­tion through restora­tion and design, with­out min­i­miz­ing the poten­tial for resource har­vest. Our aim is to help re-inte­grate humans back into the ecosys­tem as stew­ards, instead of resource extrac­tors through the rest­less dri­ve of cap­i­tal­ism. We help advance the lead­er­ship role that San Juan Coun­ty often plays for the rest of the state as pio­neer­ing, pro­gres­sive and out­spo­ken eco­log­i­cal activists and conservationists.

Our accom­plish­ments include serv­ing as the ini­tial fis­cal spon­sor for Ihiya Bio­log­i­cal Pre­serve to ensure that 33 acres along San Juan Island’s Trout Lake and False Bay spawn­ing water­shed remain unde­vel­oped, pro­vides a sanc­tu­ary for wildlife, and offers indige­nous inter­ac­tion with the land, includ­ing herbal wild­craft­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. We have helped Spring Street Inter­na­tion­al School with their sus­tain­able cam­pus goals through the co-cre­ation of an on-site herb gar­den and through imple­men­ta­tion of a Sty­ro­foam com­post­ing exper­i­ment using mealworms.

Our out­reach and edu­ca­tion goals have extend­ed to sis­ter com­mu­ni­ties on the main­land to build inte­grat­ed actions that sup­port salmon and orca ecolo­gies. Our focus thus far with the three hun­dred ninth graders at Lyn­nwood High School has been on the head­wa­ters and shore­lines of Sno­homish Coun­ty, and how their stew­ard­ship efforts pos­i­tive­ly impact South­ern Res­i­dent Killer Whales. We part­ner with Coast Sal­ish tribes to sup­port salmon, orca, canoe and ances­tral her­itage aware­ness to help repair his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary dam­age to the Pacif­ic North­west eco­log­i­cal fabric.

Most recent­ly, On Sacred Ground has played a key role in sup­port­ing Island Mar­ble But­ter­fly, a fed­er­al­ly list­ed Endan­gered species, through lead­ing its cap­tive rear­ing pro­gram in part­ner­ship with US Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice and San Juan Island Nation­al His­tor­i­cal Park. Addi­tion­al­ly, to sup­port Island Mar­ble habi­tat and over­all species needs, we are build­ing a vol­un­teer pro­gram in con­cert with Island Marble’s mul­ti­ple part­ner agen­cies and the Can­di­date Con­ser­va­tion Agree­ments with Assur­ances program.

We need ded­i­cat­ed and con­sis­tent vol­un­teers to join our island mar­ble but­ter­fly vol­un­teer pro­gram! If inter­est­ed, please con­tact sarah@onsacredgroundlandtrust.org. We also offer fee for ser­vice per­ma­cul­ture design con­sul­ta­tions for your site, home or busi­ness and ‘beyond sus­tain­abil­i­ty’ part­ner­ships. To find out more about us and for donor oppor­tu­ni­ties, vis­it our web­site.

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.