78th Street Permaculture Design Course

September 5, 2008 through December 5, 2008

Abundance Consulting and Allies have been retained by Clark County, Washington, to facilitate a Permaculture Design Seminar for stakeholders in the development of the 78th Street Agricultural Site. Click here for an outline of the series.

The 78th Street Agriculture Site has been in agricultural use for over 100 years. From the 1880's through the early 1940's the site was home to the Clark County Poor Farm, a place where impoverished and ill citizens were given a space to care for one another as best they could with the charitable help of a local farmer and hospital. Near the cherry orchard at the top of the hill are over 200 unmarked graves, the remains of Clark County Citizens who were either indigent or unidentified.

Beginning in the mid 1940's the site was used as a agricultural research and experiment center by Washington State University students and faculty. Field tests for various fruits, nuts and vegetables, as well as insect control, fertilization, organics, and forestry were undertaken here, and many local farmers give credit for the development of varietals and farming methodologies used by SW Washington farmers over the last 50 years. However, in recent years, WSU has moved many of the researchers from the site to the Mt. Vernon research site, and in spring of 2008 the deed transfer of the site's 79 acres from Washington State University returned the property to Clark County. At that time County Commissioner Marc Boldt announced the county's intention to develop the property according to its historic use as an agricultural site.

Around the time of the deed transfer Pete Dubois, the county's Sustainability Coordinator, attended a presentation on Permaculture Zone Analysis that I gave at the Students Environmental Leadership Forum (SELF). Pete approached me with an inquiry about my interest in reviewing the counties press release and white sheet. After reviewing the white sheet I suggested holding a seminar for stakeholders who could collaboratively design the project. After meeting with Mark McCauley, Director of Clark County General Services, and other county staff, as well as WSU SW Regional Director Blair Wolfley and members of his staff, an agreement was made that a Permaculture Design Seminar would be held at the 78th street site. In attendance will be County and WSU employees, as well as members of stakeholders groups.

The bulk of the material covered in the series will be from the permaculture systems design course, an ecological design methodology first developed in Australia but now recognized as a viable methodology for design development around the world. Following this series, a design charrette will be held in December, and will produce a stakeholder generated design for the development of the property into a sustainable agriculture demonstration site. Multiple partners will be involved in this effort, including WSU and other state colleges, The Clark County Food Bank, Parks and Recreation Community Gardens Program, various county agencies, Mercy Corps, and Salmon Creek Restoration Council among others.

The 78th street project has the potential to protect wetland habitat, provide upland prairie habitat (once abundant in SW Washington, but now rare) and simultaneously produce food and educational, recreational, and economic activity. USDA projections of food production can be bested by more than an order of magnitude; David Blume, Masanobu Fukuoka and others have shown it is possible to feed well over a hundred people annually per acre while conserving and even developing diverse habitat, providing recreational areas, and stimulating economy. Because of our 'modern' views of zoning and land use, some have a hard time conceiving that these ends are not at odds with one another. However, when we design intelligently, according to the principles identifiable in nature and constituting a major portion of the course which Abundance is offering, these goals can all be met concurrently.

I believe this project can become a catalyst for rethinking how we develop environmental and design policy in our Clark County and beyond. I am inspired by Commissioner Boldt's notion to keep the 78th street site in agriculture, and am committed to using my skills and experience to developing a demonstration site which can set a national standard for sustainable agriculture while fulfilling a variety of other functions which will serve the people and ecology of Clark County for generations to come.