We promote our beliefs, which are founded on responsible relationship to the world who bore us. As such, we protect land as we can. Regrounding currently has title to 160 acres of rugged untamed land who we call Tule Creek. Our desire to protect this place lead us to forming Regrounding. Here is the story:
Over many eons, the young mountains now called the Yolla Bollys (yolah means snow and buli means peak in Nomlaki Wintun) gradually rose up out of a fecund ocean. Massive canyons were created by Water as they carved their way to flat land. On the sunrise side of these mountains, precipitous gorges shade flowing ribbons of life. Mosses, lichens, fungi and gnarled junipers cling to upended ancient sea beds of zigzagged shale. Cattails, tules, willows, frogs and butterflies dwell along Water’s path.
In one of these canyons, a little below where black oaks live, Water spills from pool to pool, hugged by dense beds of tules and cattails. We call this place Tule Creek. Miraculous things occur here daily. Water and beavers make deep places where turtles hide, even in dry years. Willows make fans of bright pink roots like sprays of coral. Rapids sound like drums and birds do dances on wet rocks.
Us-two who founded Regrounding like to think that Tule Creek is part of our fate. How could such a beautiful place ever be “owned,” much less by us, as happened ten years after our first trip there? Out of curiosity we went with realtors when the land was listed for sale, only to find that roads had been recently bulldozed through the ancient live oak forest and that cannabis grows had been drinking from the creek for some years. We felt we were the only caring human eyes there and had to do something.
Against better financial judgment we made the leap. One year before the pandemic, we signed the papers. The same year complete strangers who wanted to protect land were pointed our way by an old acquaintance. After months of sporadic correspondence, suddenly a large offer of support was proposed, but there was a catch: we needed to be a legal non-profit.
Why did we choose to create a religious organization? We have animist beliefs that we think deserve the same privileges traditional churches receive in this society. One of these privileges is that they can create a burial ground for their followers without setting up the substantial endowment fund required of private landowners. We intend that a natural burial ground will someday be part of Regrounding’s work, and so the choice was clear.
A few days after we applied for our non-profit status the pandemic unexpectedly slashed our income—soon we’d not be able to make the land payments and a default would mean that the pot-grow overlords retake the land. Our miracle donors came through, loaning us enough money to pay off the debt, and later, once our legal status was confirmed and we had donated the land to Regrounding, they forgave the debt. Title to Tule Creek was secured!
But ownership alone is not protection, especially in lands where humans are sparse. In the early summer of that first pandemic year, we found a pump at the beaver pond, and from afar through binoculars, saw 130 marijuana plants about 4 feet in height. Those overlords had granted access through their land to ours, and a trespass grow was well established. Were they armed? Of course. Will the authorities help us? “When we can get to it.” Which means, “Sorry, no.” Three months later the growers had left and we had another huge mess to clean up. Worst of all, the beavers were gone and the trout, too.
In Spring, we did that clean-up and built a concrete block wall barricade on the bulldozed road at the overlord’s boundary, fearing they were watching from their cabin higher in the mountains. We also advertised for a Water Protector and fundraised to make it a reality, having a brave young man camp out there 4 days a week for the first two months of the grow season. No trespass grow that year! The following Spring, we built a barricade at the other bulldozed road and posted signs at the boundary a stone’s throw from the piles of supplies they were stashing in preparation for another trespass grow. We also tore down the large shed at the old grow site. And they didn’t come—another successful year!
This need for hands-on land defense will continue. Tule Creek needs to be loved by more than us-two. One path consistent with our beliefs is to involve this special place in the regrounding of humans. While not an appropriate place for direct interment, it is perfectly legal to bring the ashes of loved ones there. The small fee we charge for this service goes towards the continued protection of Tule Creek. If you are looking for a spectacular and remote place in northern California to spread a beloved’s ashes, please contact us for details.
[Note: nearly all the photos on this website were taken at this magical place.]
