Watershed Regeneration Initiation

A Rites of Passage for Youth

July 20–24, 2026

Western North Carolina

A land-based initiation for youth ages 14–19, rooted in watershed regeneration, ceremony, community responsibility, and ecological healing.

This immersion invites young people to step into their role as water protectors and land stewards, engaging in real, hands-on restoration work while being held in intentional rites of passage.

As we regenerate the watershed, we regenerate the soul.

About the Initiation

Watershed Regeneration Initiation is a 5 day rites of passage immersion grounded in permaculture, watershed restoration, skill-building, ceremony, and collective healing.

Participants are taught practical land-based skills and then apply those skills directly through meaningful ecological regeneration work in Western North Carolina.

This is not symbolic service.

This is living repair — of land, water, community, and self.

Who This Is For

This initiation is for youth ages 14–19 and is held in three identity-based circles:

• Young Women

• Young Men

• Two-Spirit & Gender-Expansive Youth

Participants will spend time learning, ritualizing, and processing within their own circles, while also working, restoring, and healing together as one community.

This structure supports:

• Safety and depth within each group

• Cross-group collaboration and shared responsibility

• Honest dialogue, council, and collective care

The Arc of the Week

Days 1–2: Learning the Skills of Watershed Regeneration

The first day and a half are dedicated to learning and practicing the skills that participants will use throughout the week.

Youth will be taught:

• Watershed ecology and systems

• How to read land and water

• Foundations of permaculture and regeneration

• Techniques for watershed repair and protection

This phase is hands-on and skills-based, preparing participants to move into restoration work with confidence, care, and understanding and taught by Alan Booker.

Alan Booker is widely known as an engineer, permaculture expert, and consultant in

regenerative design, but fewer know that he is also a wilderness survival expert, martial arts

instructor, storyteller, and mentor who has decades of experience working with students in

their teens and early twenties. Alan has written and taught extensively on primitive skills, self-

reliance, food production and soil fertility, community food security, and navigating the

changes unfolding across the global landscape.

Days 2–4: Regeneration in Action

Participants then move into direct watershed regeneration work throughout Western North Carolina, working both within their identity-based circles and together as a full community.

Restoration projects may include:

• Live staking

• River and watershed cleanup

• Bio-remediation

• Myco-remediation

This work responds directly to damage caused by Hurricane Helene, as well as ongoing impacts from development and projects by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Youth are not observers or helpers — they are active water protectors and land stewards, engaged in real restoration with tangible impact.

Ceremony, Council & Healing

Throughout the week, participants are held in:

• Ritual and prayer

• Council and shared reflection

• Grief work and release

• Healing practices rooted in land and community

This is a space to feel what the land feels, to name loss honestly, and to transform grief into responsibility and action.

Village Send-Off & Community Welcome Back

Rites of passage are not meant to happen in isolation — they are held, witnessed, and celebrated by the village.

Village Send-Off

The initiation opens with a Village Send-Off Ceremony at Sacred Mountain Water Sanctuary, honoring the youth as they step into initiation and responsibility.

Families, mentors, and community members are invited to witness and bless the crossing into the work of watershed regeneration.

Village Welcome Back & Community Action Day

Friday, July 24, 2026

The final day of the initiation is also a community-wide action and celebration, welcoming the initiates home and inviting the broader village into hands-on watershed care.

This day will include:

• Bio-remediation and myco-remediation classes

• Live staking and tree planting

• River cleanup

• Village Welcome Back Ceremony honoring the initiates

The day concludes with a Water Party — a celebratory concert and dance party open to the entire community.

This closing moment weaves together action, celebration, prayer, and joy, affirming that regeneration is not only work — it is also relationship, movement, and life.

Regenerating the Land, Regenerating the Soul

This initiation offers youth the opportunity to:

• Learn practical watershed regeneration skills

• Participate in meaningful environmental repair

• Process grief, responsibility, and belonging

• Experience authentic rites of passage

• Step into relationship with land, water, and community

As we regenerate the watershed, we regenerate ourselves.

Dates, Location & Registration

Initiation Dates: July 20–24, 2026

Village Welcome Back & Community Action Day: Friday, July 24, 2026

Location: Western North Carolina

Ages: 14–19

All Genders