By Chantelle Pence
“That’s my land,” he said. I was traveling with my kin in the region where he was born. Where his grandparents and their grandparents were from. On paper, the land that he was referring to was “owned” by the National Park Service.
But he didn’t speak of it in the way most have been trained to think of real estate. He spoke as if he were calling his mother’s name. “That’s my land.”
Relationships can be shallow or deep, depending on our awareness and methods of relating. E3ecologic is a Crestone-based organization that is laying pathways for community connections with the land, and all our relations.
Informed by the traditional methods of the past, progressive experimentation, and hard scientific evidence, a doorway has been opened for the community to know their local environment intimately — in a relational way.
For over 20 years Peter May, the founder of E3ecologic, has studied and worked in the realm of fire management. Mitigating the negative impacts of wildfire is the overarching theme of his passion project. But it includes everything. Fungi. Beaver. Butterflies. Bees. You. Me. We are all connected and the teachings provided by E3ecologic make that easy to see.
In a recent community presentation at The Cloud Station, Peter and some of the E3ecologic team gave an overview of the work they do, and invited others to join the family. Community volunteers are wanted to partake in various aspects of the land restoration projects underway. “Join nature’s team!” he said, extending the invitation with enthusiasm.
The team will be doing such things as controlled burns along the creeks, bringing beaver back to the area so they can do their natural work of creating habitat, nourishing mycelium networks, and working with mushrooms to break down wood debris that might otherwise be prone to burning. The goal is to rehydrate the landscape and stop the desertification.
It is well known that the two-legged have the ability and propensity towards leaving a harsh imprint on the earth. Lesser known are the ways to have a healthy relationship with our mother. Ruth Massera, a spokesperson and community educator for E3ecologic, expressed it simply: “We need to do our job as stewards of the land.”
The call for action is extended to everyone in the Crestone-Baca community. It’s a job that can be undertaken joyfully, as brothers and sisters, in care of a place of astounding beauty. With proper stewardship, the land has the capacity to provide abundantly.
“We want to build community,” Peter said. As we look for ways to restore relationships that were severed in 2020, and the years following, E3ecologic is providing a platform of unity. Of common ground. Literally. This is our land, and many hands make the work light.
It’s not work, really. When we work together it’s more like a party. The next party that is planned, in celebration of the land, is a controlled burn project that will take place when the conditions are right.
Peter coined the term “wisdom fire” to refer to traditional means of fire mitigation and land restoration. Rather than being afraid of fire, and treating it as an enemy, he encourages people to know it intimately. Work with it, with wisdom. The team has stacked piles of wood debris along Cottonwood Creek, on land owned by Shumei, which will be burned when there is proper humidity and it can be done safely.
According to Massera, the burn has been pre-approved by the Colorado Division of Fire Safety and Control, and the local fire departments will be notified. The proactive burn will remove a food source for potential wildfires, and create a food source for the forest floor, as micronutrients are released through the burning process.
Through consistent, positive, and unyielding determination, E3ecologic has cultivated relationships with public agencies such as the Forest Service, as well as private partnerships with landowners, ranchers, and anyone who wants to join in the collective effort to rehydrate and restore the health of the land.
They have plans to work with the Crestone Charter School to create a pollinator garden, and the team has a side branch to work with land owners for property mitigation, or for those who want to learn how to better relate to their acreage. It’s like any relationship. The more you learn and invest, the more interesting it gets.
This is our land. Ancient. Alive. Responsive. We stand on her shoulders.
To learn more about E3ecologic, or to get involved in the many volunteer and education projects, please visit www.E3ecologic.org.
Keep an eye on social media for invitations to participate in the controlled burns, which will be announced when the conditions are right.