At the 2009 convergence Laura Sweany brought up the idea of a state wide permaculture non profit, and as well as the topic of a land trust. In later conversation we considered the virtue of teaming up with an existing land trust, such as the PCC farmland trust, or other suitable and progressive trust which would value the permaculture approach.
I personally would be willing to bring my land to the trust, and leverage it for funding in partnership with the nature conservancy, etc. and I suspect that many others would consider this option as well.
I would like to start kicking this ball around and see if we have half a dozen folks in washington that might have a day or two a month to do some research make contacts, bring information to the table for discussion about what such an endeavuor might look like.
I sit on 16 acres, and while my place is suited for zone 3-5 agroforestry and timber, its really not a site that could do production - but the neighbours, which is for sale, has @8 acres of flat pasture well suited to a massive CSA. being able to leverage my land in order to entice a trust to buy the adjacent property seems doable. If I donate mine under the stipulation that I am a member of the management team and have a 99 year residency lease, well thats a win win for my ambition and the mission of the land trust. multiply that by 200 or more farms across the state and we have a powerful example of social permaculture at work.
please share your thoughts. i would love to hear the consideration of folks who are interested in researching this and presenting on it with me at next years convergence or colloquium or summit of conference or hoottenany...
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