The Permaculture Conservation Trust (PCT) is an Idaho non-profit currently reorganizing.
The purpose of the Permaculture Conservation Trust is to preserve and protect, in perpetuity, sites designed in accordance with the principles of permaculture, in order that their maximum long term public benefit can be achieved. Permaculture, from permanent agriculture, is a form of agroforestry that mimics the design and function of natural ecosystems. Permaculture systems are based on perennial polycultures; that is, assemblages of trees and other perennial plants, animals, fungi and annual plants, that provide mutually beneficial ecological services such as fixing nitrogen and attracting pollinators and providing pollinator habitat.
By protecting permaculture sites, The Permaculture Conservation Trust will:
1. Demonstrate to the public, academic institutions, and other parties, successful locally and regionally adapted perennial polyculture cropping systems that provide an abundance of food, fiber, and energy while increasing biodiversity, improving water quality, hydrating landscapes, building soil, and sequestering carbon.
2. Educate the public and other interested parties about the benefits and techniques of perennial polyculture cropping systems.
3. Educate the public by demonstrating repeatable techniques to care for the earth in ways that enhance our collective quality of life.
4. Research, study, and document techniques for creating and maintaining successful locally and regionally adapted perennial polyculture agroforestry techniques; use permaculture principles to explore, experiment and document through research, methodologies for enhancing ecosystem services, growing diverse foods, building soil health, and sequestering carbon.
5. Preserve and protect locally and regionally adapted plant and animal resources of value or potential value to agroforestry and perennial based permaculture cropping systems
6. Connect young and entry level permaculture farmers with affordable permaculture farms.
Central to the PCT is the idea of a “peopled conservancy”; one in which people are considered an integral part of the ecology of the landscape.
Trustees:
Bezaleel Israel
Colville, WA
Chrys Ostrander
Tumtum, WA
Deborah Berman
Moscow, ID
Gabriel Gaul
Rice, WA
Gloria Flora
Colville, WA
Ken Casler
Clark Fork, ID
Suvia Judd
Moscow, ID