1. Education Scholarships: Supporting Low-Income Students in Accessing Sustainability Education

Our Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course provides students with knowledge and hands-on experience in ecological design, restoration, regenerative farming, and sustainable living. We believe that this knowledge is incredibly important, so we keep our prices as low as we can to make our offerings accessible. The harsh reality is, however, that many people who wish to gain these skills are without the financial means to take our courses, and we consistently receive more scholarship applications than we can afford to provide. Our Education Scholarships Fundraiser seeks to raise $61,380 to enable us to provide scholarships to 30 low-income students in 2024. Funds will go directly toward providing:

1. 10 scholarships for our spring 2024 PDC + 30-Hour Hands-on Honors Certificate - $15,700

2. 10 scholarships for our summer 2024 Residential PDC - $29,980

3. 10 scholarships for our fall 2024 PDC+ 30-Hour Land and Garden Honors Certificate - $15,700

If you would like to support our Education Scholarships Fundraiser, please donate to our GoFundMe here:

2. Ecological Restoration and Wildfire Mitigation for Lost Valley’s 87-acre Oak Savanna and Mixed Conifer Forest

Before Lost Valley Education Center (LVEC) was founded in 1989, the land was managed as a monoculture Douglas Fir tree farm, and nearly all 87 acres were clear-cut. Soon after LVEC was established, the land was put into trust to protect it from industrial development, and to restore the ecological biodiversity that previously existed. Since then, LVEC has stewarded this land for oak savannah restoration and old-growth characteristics, increased habitat, soil fertility, climate resilience, wildfire mitigation, and for the overall health of our watershed. With increased risk of catastrophic wildfires in Oregon, we need to be prioritizing the health and resilience of our forests now more than ever. The Lost Valley Land Stewardship Plan is a ten-year strategy that guides our restoration and wildfire mitigation efforts. Our Land Stewardship Team is already implementing many of these activities, including planting native species, thinning and pile burning, understory management, and biochar production. We are now ready to enter the next phase of the plan, and with your help, we can scale up our efforts, and address the larger, more complex stewardship projects and wildfire concerns. Our Ecological Restoration and Wildfire Mitigation Fundraiser seeks to raise $100,000, which will be used to:

1. Increase and intensify our wildfire mitigation practices, including selective thinning, fuels management, and creation of fire breaks

2. Purchase necessary tools and equipment for enhancing restoration efforts

3. Hire and consult specialists for earthworks design and ecological forestry

4. Scale up onsite biochar production and activation to improve soil fertility

5. Support the development of restoration forestry educational programs that will equip students with hands-on skills in land stewardship, wildfire mitigation, and ecological restoration, while actively restoring native ecosystems here at Lost Valley.

If you would like to contribute to our Ecological Restoration and Wildfire Mitigation Fundraiser, please donate to our GoFundMe here:

3. Sustainable Infrastructure: Our Vision for a Resilient and Energy-Efficient Community

For many years, Lost Valley has had the vision to invest in sustainable infrastructure that is more energy and water efficient, and less dependent on the electrical grid. Our infrastructure was built in the 1970’s, and as a result, we waste a great deal of electricity heating our classrooms, dormitories, and cabins that have little-to-no insulation, single-pane windows, and inefficient water heaters. Our plumbing system and plumbing fixtures are also outdated and highly inefficient, resulting in high utility bills, overuse of water, consistent and expensive repairs, and a larger carbon footprint. The time has come to invest in real solutions that can carry us confidently into the future.

Our Infrastructure Fundraiser seeks to raise $100,000 to support the purchase and installation of new water heaters, windows, insulation, efficient plumbing fixtures, and building materials for our classrooms and other educational facilities, dormitories, and cabins. We would also like to use these funds for the development of a large-scale water catchment system for our metal roofing. EPUD, our local electrical company, has analyzed our electric use and suggested the most economical and efficient upgrades. EPUD also provides rebates for new, higher-efficiency windows and insulation, which will help raised funds stretch even farther! All of these updates would help us drastically reduce our carbon footprint, water-use, and our dependence on electricity, allowing us to re-route that money toward our educational programs.

If you would like to donate to our Sustainable Infrastructure Fundraiser, please do so here: