Our Work

We envision a world where our ecosystems are thriving, food and material needs can be met sustainably from place, where design principles emulate nature, and products return to the soil without causing harm.

We work towards this by:

Supporting the protection of keystone ecosystems that are vulnerable
Supporting the development of a bioregional forest pantry as part of a real food system
Supporting the development of the regional materialshed for a sustainable and regenerative circular economy
Co-creating knowledge commons to share tools and information in service to life
Co-creating funding ecosystems that will support regenerative work across the bioregion, and cultivating collaboration among bioregional actors and initiatives in the Northeast.

Wellspring Commons works through nested scales across the Northeast US and the Forests of the Northeast Bioregion, and cross-pollinates with bioregioning work around the world.

We are focused on ways to be resilient in an ever changing world, with the priority of being in service to the flourishing of all life.

“If the central pathology that has led to the termination of the Cenozoic is the radical discontinuity established between the human and the nonhuman, then the renewal of life on the planet must be based on the continuity between the human and the other than human as a single integral community. Once this continuity is recognized and accepted, then we will have fulfilled the basic condition that will enable the human to become more present to the Earth in a mutually enhancing manner.”

(Thomas Berry, “The University,” in The Great Work, 80).

I. Narrative Change

This sense of continuity that Berry describes between the human and other-than-human as a single integral Earth community will inevitably lead to changes in human behavior and transformations of current dominant legal frameworks and healthcare, educational and financial systems to serve the renewal of life rather than contributing to its destruction.

Taking a bioregional approach, Wellspring Commons seeks to help foster this shift of consciousness and also the systemic transformations that unfold from this change of values in the following interconnected focal areas:

II. Ecological Lifelines Protection

The transformation of current human systems such as agriculture and material flows depends on first ensuring the protection of the ecological lifelines across the bioregion.

Since climate change and ecological degradation render the future highly uncertain, and given that natural systems are approaching or past tipping points, conserving wetlands, headwaters, rivers, forests, and key animal and plant migration corridors is crucial for navigating this crisis and providing the best defense against future unknowns.

Contrary to prevailing assumptions, currently only 3.3% of New England’s wildlands are permanently preserved, leaving much of the region’s ecological lifelines extremely vulnerable and in need of strong protections.

Forest health across the region impacts water cycles, water quality, and air quality. The forests of the US northeast all face similar threats, including logging, intensive management, development, fragmentation, disease, and other challenges from climate change.

In the course of facilitating the protection of a large and significant tract of land in Connecticut, Wellspring Commons recognized the disconnects between current financial systems, conservation, health, supply systems, housing and agriculture. Wellspring Commons engages with working groups across fields of practice and organizes educational and strategic events and gatherings to support the protection of ecological lifelines and wildlands connectivity in the bioregion.

III. Food and Materials Systems Transformation

In service to a world where human food and material needs are met without taxing or harming the planet, Wellspring Commons is:

Supporting the development of a bioregional forest pantry, highlighting currently overlooked sources of nutritious local foods that can help solve multiple issues from food security to forest conservation and soil health, in addition to supporting the creation of shared processing infrastructure to make use of that availability.

Offering workshops relating to bioregional foods for those working to bring about transformations of our current food system, for example, help to foster a relationship with food not as a commodity or simply as fuel, but from an understanding of our bodies nourished and formed in a bioregional context.

Aiding the development of the regional materialshed by building awareness and understanding in a broader audience to support the ability to regionally source and create products that return back to soil at the end of their life without causing pollution or harm.

Facilitating systemic constellations. These offer a valuable means for working with dynamics, patterns and structures in a system. Constellations have been a key guiding tool in the evolution of Wellspring Commons. Under Wayfarers Constellations, Keetu and Cherry co-facilitate systemic constellations for individuals and groups, for purposes of visioning and strategizing, organizational restructurings, and to explore issues relating to bioregional regeneration.

IV. Coherence

Our aim is to serve as a collaborative part of an interdependent exchange hub of information, resources, and mutual support for both humans and the beyond human, acting as a coherence weaver among bioregional actors and initiatives in the Northeast and across a myceliated global and inter-bioregional network. A contribution from this role is to offer a perspective on the systemic viability of the pieces in place, noting where are the gaps to fill, which areas need more support, and where to build more interoperable infrastructure for common access and use. This role increases collaboration on all levels, serving resilience by strengthening the community fabric and grassroots-organizing that supports the bioregional movement as a whole.

Beavers up and down a river coordinate with each other to manage the water table and the hydration of the land. Wellspring Commons views its role in a similar light, coordinating with other “beaver” organizations in the field to support a coherent approach to the shared tending of flows, ensuring that information, partnerships, and resources flow smoothly to where they need to go, without stagnation, parching or oversaturation. To operate in this way requires cultivating and prioritizing trust-based relationships as the basis of community.

A few examples of how we are doing this:

Serving in a core capacity as a co-founding member of the Northeast Bioregioning Collective, which weaves together deep expertise in social and ecological systems transformation.
Serving as a bridge between the Northeast Bioregioning Collective and the Inter-Tribal Alliance
Co-organizing events layering bioregional cuisine, regenerative practices, place-based living, local sourcing and food and material systems, community development, and finance with colleagues from many sectors.

If you'd like to learn more, or collaborate with us, please reach out via the contact form!