Healing the land, helping communities
Ashland's Lomakatsi Restoration Project creates jobs, trains teens, and builds trust while restoring forests and streams.
Lomakatsi is the Hopi word for "life in balance." For more than 20 years, Lomakatsi Restoration Project has been restoring balance to thousands of acres of forests and miles of streams in southern Oregon and northern California.
Founded by forest workers in 1995, the Ashland nonprofit hires and trains crews to do ecological restoration work, including planting trees, pulling invasive weeds, thinning fire-suppressed forests, stabilizing slopes, seeding native grasses, and carefully reintroducing fire back into landscapes. Through education programs and paid internships, local youth work alongside professional crews, gaining hands-on experience and valuable life skills.
Lomakatsi was founded on the principle that restoring ecosystems also helps heal human communities. Working with a wide range of partners, including government agencies, private landowners, environmental groups, and Native American tribes, the organization supports reconciliation and builds trust.
The dedicated employees and volunteers at Lomakatsi Restoration Project are among the many Oregonians working to make life better for their fellow citizens. Learn about others and see online issues of Comp News, our policyholder magazine.