A Community Space for All
A community space for all - Roaring Creek Invitational 2021 community trail run prize pie ceremony. Photo: Loren Guerriero
Basecamp Cascadia is an outdoor community space for all. We facilitate wild, immersive adventures of self-discovery in nature, to inspire the next generation of exemplars of environmental care.
As a mission statement, we think this sounds pretty good! However, these statements are short by necessity. In this public journal (aka blog) we will explore the reason behind our mission. In this edition, why create a community space for all?
At the heart of this statement, we strive to share the experience of this land with as many people as possible. We are inspired to share this space with our community because we can imagine a different, better society, with healthier notions of property ownership and environmental stewardship.
This inspiration begins with narratives from the past. I acknowledge I am writing today from Basecamp Cascadia, the ancestral homelands of the P’Squosa (Wenatchi) people. I often try to imagine the pre-colonial landscape here--old growth forest, an abundance of wildlife and fish, humans hunting and gathering and living sustainably within the Nason river ecosystem--before the concept of property boundaries, land ownership, and natural resource extraction. Before the existence of a mindset of racing to privately capture one’s share of the planet’s resources, and before the existence of technology to facilitate unsustainable overconsumption. A time when humans graciously accepted nature’s gifts and devoted their efforts to stewardship of the forest in return for such gifts. This is our inspiration.
What inspires us?
“We are inspired to share this space with our community because we can imagine a different, better society, with healthier notions of property ownership and environmental stewardship.”
Sunset over the North Cascades: a quiet moment at Basecamp Cascadia. Photo: Jon Strahl
During silent moments alone in the forest or on a promontory, trying to imagine those times, is one way I acknowledge the land here and the wisdom of those early human inhabitants known as the P’Squosa band. When doing so, it is strange to think that through many convoluted twists of history and privilege that as recently as 2016 I came to own this arbitrary 20 acre beautiful piece of forest, known as:
The legal, colonial definition of this forest we affectionately call Basecamp Cascadia.
What a strange, sterile characterization of a timeless forest with infinite mystery, diversity, and unique beauty. How odd it is to define a place based on its relation to the societal construct of the Willamette Meridian, rather than a hill, river, or clearing that can be perceived with our natural senses and serves as a natural ecological border.
The land of the Nason Valley, from the perspective of the Chelan County Assessor.
The land of the Nason Valley, as seen from a recent clearcut. While the valley is far from its pre-colonial state, we are grateful to live here in 2021 and there are a lot of reasons to continue to care for this land. Photo: Jon Strahl
Of course, we live in a privatized society, and in 2021 there are many such parcels in the Nason Valley—mysteriously divided by recent inhabitants into rectangular or triangular or trapezoidal parcels. We are surrounded by “no trespassing” and “private property” signs. One cannot traverse this area with a clear conscience—without breaking a law and being automatically perceived as untrustworthy. At Basecamp Cascadia, we know that presuming to trust others leaves us more open to positive opportunities than vulnerable to negative risks. We create programs as an invitation to participants to share this land. Walls, fences, and such signs have no place here.
These days, such openness may be perceived as “radical” even though it is actually so old-fashioned as to pre-date colonialism. Our radical openness as hosts is critical to creating a sense of emotional safety for our community, enabling us to truly welcome diverse audiences, and de-segregate our outdoor spaces in the long run. If you don’t feel safe, you can’t have fun. If you are safe, feel that you belong, connect to the land, and connect with others—joy is inevitable.
We strive to define Basecamp Cascadia not as a parcel east of the Willamette Meridian, but as an outdoor community space for all. Photos: Eliza Brine, Mollie Royer, Jon Strahl
Trust first
“We know that presuming to trust others leaves us more open to positive opportunities than vulnerable to negative risks.”
We reside here in such recent time, represented only by the new growth in the outermost rings of each tree stump. Katie and I moved back here together as modern homesteaders in 2019, and founded Basecamp Cascadia in 2020. We acknowledge that this land, while “owned” by us in a legal sense, has a history and a future that stretches beyond our presence here. The land is therefore not our own—and to keep it entirely private is an unnatural perpetuation of colonialism’s existing power structures. Therefore, we aligned our careers and efforts to create an organization to open the space and invite others to share this forest, making our best effort to inspire each other and those with whom we share the land to be exemplars of environmental care.
We are young. Photo: Jon Strahl
We are just getting started, and there is a lot of work to do. We share the land in order to serve the land. We take the responsibility and privilege of caring for this land very seriously, so that the plants and animals and all living things in this area have the best chance to thrive here. We seek to educate and impart these values on our community.
We know no matter how hard we work, we will never return to that pre-colonial state. We acknowledge the indigenous wisdom and draw inspiration by imagining how this forest may have existed sustainably for time immemorial prior to the presence of modern colonialism. We acknowledge the past not to lament our current state, but to honor and recognize and cultivate a small spark within ourselves to do what we can now and in the future to be the best ancestors we can be, and to restore the ideal of humans living in sustainable balance with the land.
Paige Reyes and Mary Big Bull-Lewis, board members from the Indigenous Roots and Reparations Foundation (IRFF), and Paige’s family give an introduction at the pre-run briefing for the Roaring Creek Invitational trail run and party at Basecamp Cascadia. This year we were proud to donate RCI proceeds to IRRF, a new local indigenous-lead nonprofit formed to “support the rights of the Earth, by recognizing the intrinsic value of all species, ecosystems, ensuring clear water and air, and returning human activity to a balanced, sustainable level. #landback” Photo: Eliza Brine
Through our work we are learning alternate narratives of the past, imaging different ways humans can live in this ecosystem in the future, teaching, and inspiring others. Basecamp Cascadia is an outdoor community space for all, welcoming diverse humans to this forest facilitates our own journey of learning, expands our perspective and broadens our impact to beyond the boundaries of this property. Creating this community space in the forest is OUR work--we mean all of us--taking place today at the intersection of social and environmental justice.
“We share the land in order to serve the land.”