During the 1990s five Shasta Bioregional Gatherings were held where urban and rural activists met to exchange concerns and support each other. They were held in five different areas of Northern California. Crofton Diack, the first event coordinator, described it as, “Vastly different people coming from incredibly different walks of life doing hugely different things but finding common ground, talking, making plans for the future and really coming together—that’s what bioregionalism does through advocating a cultural relationship to the earth.”
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Shasta Bioregional Gathering Logo
—Symbol designed by John Davies
The geographic features within represent the breadth of the living geography of the extraordinary Shasta Bioregion. They include: Mount Shasta, an oak branch, a whale, and a redwood branch.
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Shasta Bioregional Gatherings
The Shasta Bioregion (Northern California) is traditionally defined by Planet Drum as extending east from the Pacific Ocean of Northern and Central California through the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys up to the Sierra Nevada Mountains; and from Mount Shasta (headwaters of the Sacramento River) and the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains to perhaps as far south as the Tehachapi Mountains.
The primary purpose of the Shasta Bioregional Gatherings was to enable urban and rural activists to build stronger alliances, and share restoration strategies. Each gathering was unique to its locale and celebrated the diverse restorative work being done within it.
Gatherings integrate many profound insights and varied experiences. Together, attendees seek sustainable practices to reconnect humans and nature. By experiencing our sense of place, we advance the transition in our communities away from the antiquated resource-extraction economy. This sense of place increases our ecological awareness, and deepens as it crosses the boundaries of public policy, education and social standards. Aldo Leopold encourages: “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
Between the years of 1991-97 there were five bioregional gatherings held in Shasta. The first was located in Napa Valley (1991), the second at Mt. Shasta (1992), the third on the Mendocino Coast (1994), the fourth along the Russian River (1995), and the fifth on the Humboldt coast (1997). There was also a sixth gathering planned for 2000, but it was not able to progress beyond the early planning stages.
In the linked pages below are short summaries of all the available information of each gathering’s proceedings, including: the location, dates, theme, schedule, presenters and presentations, miscellaneous daily activities, nightly entertainment, registration information, food and lodging information, the names of those on the organizing committee, the sponsors, the number of participants, and the media outreach used to advertise or summarize the gatherings.
All information was sourced from the Planet Drum archives. Any additions or corrections readers may have are welcome.
LINKS to each gathering:
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering I: (Napa Valley, 1991)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering II: (Mt. Shasta, 1992)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering III: (Mendocino Coast, 1994)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering IV: (Russian River, 1995)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering V Planning Meetings: (Sacramento River & Delta, 1996)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering V: (Humboldt Coast, 1997)
- Shasta Bioregional Gathering VI: (proposed: Sacramento Valley, circa 2000)