OAEC supports diverse communities to design their own regenerative systems at the regional and local scale.
Our cookbook is a collection of inventive recipes inspired by seasonal eating from our biodiverse Mother Garden, orchards and Wildlands Preserve.
Experience the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center through beautiful slideshows of our Guest Houses, Meeting Hall, Kitchen, Garden, Wildlands and more.
OAEC serves as a retreat center for networks, public agencies, foundations and other groups working towards social and environmental change.
Our 100% Certified Organic plant nursery specializes in open-pollinated perennials including edible landscaping plants, rare and endangered food crops, drought tolerant ornamentals and habitat plants - all tested in our onsite gardens and appropriate for our bioregion.
OAEC offers the longest consistently running two-week Permaculture Design Certification course in the West. Immerse yourself in information, ideas and inspiration on how to design sustainable, regenerative systems in balance with your home ecosystem.
Extensive research has recently heightened recognition of the important role beaver (Castor canadensis) can play in watershed health and climate change resiliency. The species’ ecological services include enhanced water storage, erosion control, habitat restoration and creation, listed species recovery, the maintenance of stream flows during the dry summer period, and other beneficial adaptations to our changing climate conditions.
While this keystone species has created valuable wetland habitat across California for centuries, beaver are often overlooked or maligned. Other western states are taking a pro-active stance towards beaver restoration, but agencies and landowners in California are focused on managing beaver as a nuisance rather than stewarding them for their benefits.
The WATER Institute’s Beaver in California guide will help you gain a better understanding of the history of beaver in California, their behavior and ecology, their benefits to ecosystems and how, through better stewardship, we can partner with them to restore our watersheds, recover endangered species and adapt to climate change. This 30-page full color publication has been written for land-owners, concerned citizens, conservationists, resource agency staff and decision makers interested in learning how to receive the benefits beaver have to offer while mitigating potential damage.
We have a limited number of full-color copies of this guide booklet for sale. All proceeds go to support our Bring Back the Beaver Campaign.