Our Philosophy

Vision

Our vision is a community engaged in a healthy beautiful natural environment, vibrant with healthy natural resources and abundant wildlife, protected in perpetuity with conservation easements, and dedicated to serving area youth and community primarily through providing environmental education opportunities.

Mission

To serve and advance environmental stewardship, conservation practices and environmental education, especially in the Purgatoire Valley.

Guiding Principles

Stewardship

• We consider stewardship of natural resources to be a personal responsibility
• We pledge to preserve, protect and enhance our natural resources to the best of our abilities
• We feel that we serve our environment, and our society, by educating and encouraging our youth, and the greater community, to steward natural resources with the same care and sense of responsibility as we do

Conservation

• We believe that the preservation of large areas of undeveloped natural landscapes benefits the naturally functioning ecosystems and wildlife as well as certain aesthetic and spiritual human needs
• We encourage others and facilitate the process to preserve and protect their lands with conservation easements because we believe in the synergy of multiple contiguous areas of protected natural landscapes
• We believe that the benefits of conservation easements extend beyond the property boundaries of the individual landowner and benefit the greater community and the general ecosystem

Environmental Education

• We believe that investing in youth and education is a strong strategy for protecting and improving our natural environment
• We believe that through creative leadership we can find ways to form collaborative partnerships between conservation organizations, government agencies, schools, service organizations and private landowners to serve and advance our goals of protecting and improving our natural environment.
• We believe that successive generations of youth are becoming increasingly alienated from the natural world.  This fact forebodes challenges of stewardship in the future.  With that in mind, we reach out to reconnect our youth with the natural world by creating more opportunities for them to connect through environmental education.

We seek to develop programs that:

• PROVIDE LEADERSHIP to inspire, plan, motivate, develop and implement effective programs to benefit youth, education and the environment.
• CREATE OPPORTUNITIES to expose youth to the wonder, beauty and function of our natural world.
• ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE and awareness of risks to environmental health.
• CHALLENGE local landowners and industries to face up to environmental risks and challenges that may be developing on their properties.
• GUIDE them through the steps necessary to restore resource health.
• SUPPORT environmental stewardship projects of private landowners by assisting them in planning, design of projects, grant writing, contracting operators, marketing of product, prescribed burn plans, and monitoring results for the improved resource health of our greater area.
• BUILD trust between diverse, and often divergent, partners; especially between neighboring landowners, conservation organizations, and government agencies.
• SEEK grant opportunities and write grant applications to government agencies, private foundations and other sources of funds.
• FACILITATE project development by recruiting collaborative partners, inspiring them into action, and leading them through the project steps.
• ALIGN the needs of the community and the needs of a healthy environment with the guidance of environmental organizations, technical “in-the-field” experience of government agencies, and the on-site opportunities of local land owners.

Directors

• Linda C. Black
• Sophie Black
• Brad Cabot
• Grant Parker
• Bob Philbin