Earth Spirit Rejuvenation Revitalizing indigenous communities and the lands where they live   OUR MISSION Our purpose is to provide solutions to cultural, environmental, and economic challenges facing communities in the United States and Bolivia.  PRIMARY AREAS OF PROJECT DEVELOPMENT · Leading projects which provide jobs and job training in indigenous traditional practices for youth and women and environmental and cultural education; · Assisting Bolivian communities, financially and technically, with developing potable water and sanitation systems; · Performing watershed assessments for watershed associations, government agencies, and nonprofits and recommending restoration projects; · Designing and building stream and ecosystem restoration projects in watersheds impacted by overgrazing, fire suppression, over-logging, etc. Wildfire Hazard Reduction Program: Washoe Native American Youth Forest Crews We are creating the opportunity for Washoe youth to learn how to apply traditional indigenous forestry in the modern world. The crucial role that indigenous peoples played in forest management up until 150 years ago is becoming more evident each year as intense, out-of-control wildfires char our forests and any communities in their path. We are creating a youth program to provide jobs and job training, environmental and cultural education, and to restore our forests through indigenous forestry. Planning for Restoration: Watershed Assessments In order to aid agencies and organizations with the restoration of impacted watersheds, we perform watershed assessments of the hydrologic, biologic, and geomorphic state of the watershed and/or river, historically and today.   This information gives stakeholders the missing information they need to move forward most efficiently and effectively to preserve and restore watersheds.    Stream Restoration Design Projects After the assessment, then comes the work for change.  We design streams and meadows that resemble their appearances before urbanization or overgrazing took place.  Our plans are holistic and address all potential land use impacts and offer solutions to mitigate their effects so that the new design is successful. Artisan Cooperative and Water System Development. Bolivia is a country of diversity.  It houses parts of the Amazon Rain Forest and the Andes Mountains as well as dozens of indigenous cultures.  Most of the country’s people live on the high plain, the Altiplano, at 14,000 feet above sea level, surviving on little more than $2 per day per household.    Our purpose in Bolivia is to facilitate: ·         the development of artisan cooperatives capable of conducting business with the Western world; ·         the exchange of quality artisan goods to the US and of much-needed capital to poor Bolivian families and communities; ·         access to the technical expertise of Earth Spirit to help communities develop priorities and specific plans to meet their water and sanitation needs; ·         connecting communities with Bolivian non-profits that will carry out the needed projects.  CULTURAL EXCHANGE We envision a program for cultural exchange between youth of the United States and Bolivia.  In the coming years, we will develop the framework for youth from indigenous communities of the US and Bolivia to communicate with and visit one another.  This will include Bolivians taking part in the youth crews as well as US youth helping build drinking water systems for Bolivian communities.  WHO WE ARE Art George, Jr. is leading efforts in the Washoe Native American Tribe to develop youth intervention programs and return Washoe to their ancestral lands and cultural practices around Lake Tahoe by providing environmental restoration services.  Art will share his Washoe wisdom with the youth work crews.  Jennifer Hamblen is a hydrologist, yoga teacher, work crew and backpacking leader for youth, and practically full-time volunteer for Bolivian water projects.  She offers her diverse experience and motivation to make a difference to help power this organization. Mitchell Swanson brings over twenty years of experience as a scientist and owner of an environmental consulting firm that specializes in watershed assessessments and stream restoration projects.  He also volunteers with Cornerstones, a nonprofit that encourages community service through spiritual empowerment.  CONTACT Earth Spirit Rejuvenation 500 Seabright Ave Suite 202 Santa Cruz, CA 95062 Phone (831) 818-7730