I own and manage 16 acres in SW Washington called Abundance.

for ne folks, welcome the tribe!

Right now there are 14 acres next to mine that are in danger of being cut. This stand of trees is on private land, and the only thing stopping the owner from cutting are access and egress issues. Any of you who have seen 200' foot tall trees, walked in a forest over 150 years old, you know what is at stake. Any of you who have been here know the living heart that beats in this place and will know my fear and pain as this unfolds. But we are not helpless.

IN my last blog I asked if you were here yet. I cant ask anymore. Today I turned bulldozers away based on a legal technicallity. I don’t know how long I can play that game before we- you, me, and especially the forest- loose.

I am about to begin grad school. I will be earning my Master's of Science degree in agriculture, with an emphasis in Agroforesty and a minor in ecovillage development. This will give me great of raw material to work into the plan; Still, it wont happen without your work as well.

I have a full business plan detailing partnership agreements, the financial modeling, and the role a business plays in managing this space- which would be leased to a non proffit whose focus is in permaculture education (from biodynamic gardening to food forestry to natural building) and bioregional habitat conservation and restoration. I am a certified Permaculture Teacher.

Imagine Permaculture courses in a forest that is more pristine than many state parks and national forests can boast of, where elk and raven visits are daily occurances- I can hear the elk bugling the rut right now! Imagine 20 people climbing 100' feet up a huge tree for a classroom on zone 4 and 5. You dont have to imagine- you can make it happen!

In order to stop the travesty of cutting these trees I need allies, and I need them now. We have 18 months to get our plan and $80,000 grand together- this will not only prevent the trees from being cut, but create the foundation for an ecovillage and permaculture institute.

I am close to being able to legitamately offer shares in this business, and need people to come to the table NOW. The final negotiations and changes needed to implement the plan successfully depend on YOU.

Below is information for investors. However, we need to put together a non profit as well, and while that information isn’t listed below, if you don’t have money but have skills in permaculture, natural building, or organizational development, or the ability to work in consensus and with vision, you can play a part.

Here's the business basics.

It requires a $17,500 minimum purchase of a shares, which is 5% of the projects startup value.

The design, conceptually, is easy: a limited partnership (LP) holds the property as a leasable trust; the lease is held by a 501-c3 non profit on a 3 year lease with options, being 4 renewable terms at 25 year each, with a 4 term limit. The non profit will hold first purchase rights to any shares offered by members.

This allows the non profit time to purchase the holding. The LP members will agree to hold the land, save for 5 developable acres, in conservation forestry trust, and the 5 acres in a residential land trust.

The non profit is staffed; those staff members have the option of living onsite or building on site and subleasing; they will own the home, leasing the ground it is on (as members of the non-profit).

The non profit business will focus on permaculture and natural building education & consultation, with a specialization in agroforestry, ecovillage design and bioregional conservation/restoration work.

Investors will have the opportunity to be staff members. That means that as a staffer and an owner, the investment of 17.5 k will put one in a position to guide the non-profit in its work, have access to timber and cob as building resources, and the experience of several builders to support their building vision and build their cottage in a workshop, all of which mitigate cost drastically.

The workshops and education aspects of the non profit bring in money to the staffer as an employee, and to the non-profit, who must pay lease. The lease, of course, provides dividends to owners.

so thats the basic mechanism of the business.

Please contact me directly if you have specific questions. Post general questions here, to the "Investment Opportunity" thread. (it is moderated, you will have to join, but that just tells me your interested enough to take 5 seconds of effort...)

thanks!