OAEC (The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center), in its 30th year, continues to be dedicated to fostering self-determination in communities and participating in social justice and environmental movements that challenge … Read more
Happy Birthday and congratulations to the Mother Garden turning 50 years old this summer! The Mother Garden, and its offspring, the Nursery were featured in the May/June 2024 issue of … Read more
The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center WATER Institute is humbled and excited to announce that we have been awarded a $2 million block grant to develop a program to build … Read more
The state’s new Beaver Restoration Program completed its first relocation in October, 2023. See the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) press release here. We were honored to be … Read more
Unveiling OAEC’s 2023 Update: Strategies for Change! We are proud of this new publication that reports on our accomplishments for this year through the lens of the four strategies that … Read more
Like Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food movement, we have our own “slow water movement” at OAEC. You might know it as the permaculture mantra, or perhaps you’ve seen it as part … Read more
We’re reporting back from two highly successful Cal PBR Network workshops that took place in October, empowering folks to further advance their skills in process-based restoration and all of its … Read more
Two big beaver hits today! First up is an interview with Kate and Brock in The Los Angeles Times about beaver benefits to landscapes. The story is titled, “Restoring California … Read more
In honor of the day, we want to celebrate beaver being a keystone species, meaning the habitats they create benefit countless other plant and animal species in California ecosystems. Species … Read more
At the June 14, 2023 CA Fish and Game Commission meeting, the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) reported to the commissioners that they have enacted a new beaver … Read more
Watch WATER institute Co-Director Kate Lundquist in this Secretary Speaker Series webinar, hosted by California’s Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, on Wednesday, July 12th from 12 noon – 1 pm. … Read more
“Oftentimes I think of watersheds as living lifeboats. From ridge to river, from summit to sea, from stem to stern, we have to rethink and retrofit these living lifeboats at … Read more
After more than a decade of a concerted effort to Bring Back the Beaver, OAEC and The WATER Institute are thrilled to announce that there are major policy changes happening … Read more
On May 24, we partnered with the California Beaver Policy Working Group and wrangled 50 state leaders from Sacramento to Doty Ravine to see beaver restoration in action. Protected since … Read more
Brock Dolman, Ecologist and Director of the OAEC Wildlands program, gave an online presentation for FireSafe Sonoma on May 23rd, 2023, introducing the concept of “Fuels to Flows” – turning … Read more
Neil Harvey, host of Bioneers Radio, interviews Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman to learn all about beaver: their history in North America, how they slow and spread water, create critical … Read more
Last month, OAEC was proud to support our fiscally sponsored project, Fenceline Watch, by applying and successfully receiving accreditation under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)! Fenceline Watch is an environmental justice group fighting toxic pollution in … Read more
Did you know OAEC is home to over 127 species of fungi, 326 species of animalia and 290 species of plantae? Since 2003, Brock Dolman, Director of the OAEC Wildlands … Read more
“It’s time to take our fire fears and connect that with our water woes!” – Brock Dolman As we thin and limb our forests and landscapes towards fire fuels reduction, … Read more
While there are all sorts of serious reasons to love beaver (including their ability to create habitat for many species, buffer the effects of climate change, increase the presence of … Read more
Ecesis, the quarterly news journal of SerCal (California Society for Ecological Restoration) features an article written by our own WATER Institute Co-Directors, Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman, and Development and … Read more
Are you interested in learning how to run a successful retreat and education center? Join us as a Program Administration Intern to support a wide range of OAEC’s internal programs … Read more
The Facilities Internship tackles the usual array of facilities related work that maintains and improves the infrastructure at OAEC. The facilities intern works in areas such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, … Read more
OAEC works to inspire communities to build and imagine the ecologically regenerative and socially just world that we know is possible. At OAEC’s 80-acre landbase in Sonoma County, we demonstrate … Read more
What is your relationship with water? Do you know where your water comes from or how it gets to you? For the most part, modern developed societies have taken water … Read more
As the number of guests in our retreat program has increased in recent years, so has the volume of food scraps that our kitchen produces. For decades, our chickens, goats, … Read more
Since our announcement in July about the State’s monumental decision to fund the creation of a new Beaver Restoration Program to be led by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, … Read more
This past spring, OAEC and the Sowing Circle community were thrilled to graze a flock of 54 sheep and 12 goats across nearly 10 acres of coastal prairie and meadow … Read more
SACRAMENTO (June 30, 2022) – Today, Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to launch a new Beaver Restoration Program at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will be enacted at the … Read more
photo by Brock Dolman Salmon are a keystone species, inextricably linked to the health of our coastal ecosystems, yet over the past century their populations have experienced devastating declines. In … Read more
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Site photography by Jim Coleman, Tali Aiona, Doug Gosling, Brock Dolman and Sashwa Burrous.
