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.
On public lands throughout northern Virginia, we are working to restore riparian (stream-bank) buffer—the forests and meadows that grow along streams under natural conditions. In 2010, we began extending our buffer work farther into the Virginia Piedmont, by collaborating with farmers and nonprofits in rural Virginia. Our mid-Atlantic buffer effort focuses on the control of invasive alien vegetation and the planting of appropriate native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants along buffer-deficient streams and rivers. Our planting stock is propagated directly from local natural areas, at our own Wild Plant Nursery. In addition to our mid-Atlantic buffer effort, our Tree Bank / Hispaniola program works to preserve and restore buffer rainforest along part of the Dominican Republic – Haiti border. (The Tree Bank is not discussed here; see instead the main Tree Bank / Hispaniola page.)
There are no Stream Buffer updates at present.
Many of our stream-buffer sites are included in the DC-Area Field-Site Map.
For recent stream-buffer activities, read the Stream-Buffer News.
For a history in pictures of our buffer work, view these slide shows:
the 2010 Stream-Buffer slide show,
the 2008-09 Stream-Buffer slide show, and
the 2005-07 Stream-Buffer slide show.
For an account of our earliest buffer efforts, look at our booklet, Reconnecting Forests and Streams, which we published in 2005.
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Planting buffer at Lake Fairfax Park.
Planting into turf near Accotink Creek.
Volunteers at Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary.
A white oak seedling planted along the Thornton River.
Removing invasive Amur honeysuckle near Holmes Run.
Planting at a water treatment plant.
A sweetgum planting near Long Branch Stream.
Cutting invasive vines along Long Branch Stream.
Planting along Difficult Run.
Planting a hornbeam near Holmes Run.
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Above: Scenes from our stream buffer activities.
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