We seek peace in our own lives through meditation and the study of the Dharma (the traditional Buddhist teachings). We contribute to peace in our communities through ecological restoration, as a remedy for some of the violence done by development.
At our Wild Plant Nursery and the field sites that it serves, we work to conserve the native plant communities of the greater Washington region, home to one of the richest floras in eastern North America. Our Tree Bank / Hispaniola is conserving the forests of central Hispaniola, the richest surviving remnant of the Caribbean forest biome, a global biodiversity hotspot.
We see ecological restoration as essential to conservation because many natural areas are now too small and isolated to persist over the long term in their current state. In the greater Washington region, we are reestablishing forests and meadows on degraded sites. In central Hispaniola, our Tree Bank farmers are replanting native forest on their lands.
Watch the new Tree Bank Video! Our Tree Bank Hispaniola has passed a major milestone: we are now protecting 100 acres of endangered high-diversity tropical forest! We're also improving the lives of 40 small-holder farm families. Help us protect the next 100 acres, and reach more families, by making a donation today! Learn more ...
The Earth Sangha is a nonprofit charity based in the Washington, DC area and devoted to ecological restoration. We work in the spirit of Buddhist practice, but our members and volunteers come from a wide variety of religious and secular backgrounds.
In the Washington area, we operate an ecological restoration program to restore native forests and meadows, stabilize streams, and control invasive alien plants. The Wild Plant Nursery is the heart of our DC-area field work.
On the island of Hispaniola, along the Dominican Republic – Haiti border, we operate the Tree Bank Hispaniola, which helps impoverished farmers improve their incomes and restore native forest.
In addition to environmental work, we host weekly meditation sessions in Alexandria, Virginia, along with discussions of the Dharma (the traditional Buddhist teachings). These sessions are free and open to all.
Our spring Wild Plant Nursery Open House and Plant Sale, held on May 5, was a huge success! We raised over $18,500 for restoration work in local parks. Many thanks to everyone who came out!
To learn more about the Earth Sangha's mission and how we are organized, visit About Us.
To see some results of our field work, run the Site Visit slide show.
If you are interested Earth Sangha's socially responsible work to address tropical deforestation, take a look at Tree Bank Hispaniola.
To learn about Earth Sangha's restoration activities in the Washington, DC, region, read any of our DC-area field site pages, such as that for the Native Arboretum. Wild Plant Nursery is the heart of our DC-area field work.
If you live in the Washington area and would like to participate in our field work, check out Volunteer and Field Schedule.
If you would like to meditate with us, see Meditation.
To find out about recent activities, visit News.
Join us! Become a member of the Sangha.
See what your donation will do: click "What Your Donation Will Do" tab on the Join page.
Earth Sangha
10123 Commonwealth Blvd.
Fairfax, VA 22032-2707
Please note: this is our business address. It is not the address of the Wild Plant Nursery. Here are driving directions to the nursery.
ph: (703) 764-4830
fax: (703) 562-8388
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Wilma, a young Tree Bank colleague (Dominican Republic).
Restoring forest groundlayer (Virginia).
Building a stormwater checkdam at Meadowood (Virginia).
Tommy and Gaspar at our Tree Bank Nursery (Dominican Republic).
Matt installing an invasives-control test plot (Virginia).
Tending spicebush at our Wild Plant Nursery (Virginia).
A two-year-old Hispaniolan pine planting (Dominican Republic).
Restored habitat at our Native Arboretum project (Virginia).
Replanting riparian forest (Virginia).
Cosme in his riparian restoration zone (Dominican Republic).
A wet-meadow restoration project (Virginia).
Clearing alien paperbark mulberry (Virginia).
Seeds of an endangered mahogany (Dominican Republic).
Nikki pots “fernlets” at our greenhouse (Virginia).
Lisa collecting native grass seed (Virginia).
Polyculture on a Tree Bank farm (Dominican Republic).
Creating the River of Native Grass at Meadowood (Virginia).
A red maple emerges from its tree tube (Virginia).
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Above: Some scenes from our life and work.
Read the most recent issue of our newsletter, the Acorn. Click the Acorn cover to get the pdf.
Join our mailing list and we'll send you our quarterly newsletter. We don't do high volume mailing and we never share or sell your information. Click the photo to send us your address. Photo: volunteers distributing stock on a restoration site.
Join Lisa's e-mail list. Lisa sends out weekly notes on the Sangha's work and practice. Lisa is the Sangha's Dharma Teacher and a Force of Nature in the field. (The latter term is not exactly a title but maybe it should be.) Click the photo for more information. Photo: Lisa and students organizing a planting at our Native Arboretum.
See results! Click the photo to open a slide show of "before" and "after" shots documenting progress on a few of Earth Sangha's field sites. Photo: a four-year-old sweetgum planting.
Volunteer with us in the field! Volunteering is a great way to meet people and to learn more about natural areas of the greater DC region. Click the photo to learn more. Photo: a stream-buffer planting event.
Learn to meditate. Our weekly meditation sessions in Alexandria, Virginia, are free and open to all. Click the photo to get the details. Photo: meditation mats for one of our sittings.
Try Rising Forests Coffee, grown exclusively by our Tree Bank farmers! Click the logo to learn more or to order. Revive yourself. Restore the forests.