Refuge For Plants,Wildlife and People
A 268+ acre forest sanctuary in Ashfield, Massachusetts
Our Mission
Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary promotes ecosystem diversity and resilience through forest stewardship and propagation of native and endangered plants and fungi. To accomplish our goals and foster an ethic of regenerative land stewardship, we intend to provide hands-on learning and pursue grants to protect and regenerate the woodlands.
Our Vision
The sanctuary will include forest farming of native and endangered plant species, botanical sanctuary, and ecological education. Mount Owen was once used for logging but hasn’t been touched in about 50 years. Still, many areas of the forest, though beautiful, are depleted. We intend to rewild habitat so that pollinators, native plants, humans and wildlife can thrive. Eventually, seasonal writer’s retreats will be offered for inspiration, hands-on learning and restoration in nature.
Why
There is a tragic disconnect between twenty-first-century humans and nature. Our daily sustenance may no longer depend on personal interactions with Earth, but as animals, we are part of the ecosystem and inextricably connected to the health of our environment. Climate change, the collapse of biodiversity, and destruction of habitat - all human driven - are among the many painful consequences of ecological disconnect. Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary intends to be both a balm and a space for solutions. With widespread environmental degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems, this sanctuary and others like it, are increasingly important.