Community at Lost Valley

The intentional community at Lost Valley provides a home for people who share a common intention to stewarding this land and developing a sustainable culture, recognizing and honoring the spiritual, aesthetic, and emotional as well as practical dimensions of sustainability. Some of the residents of the intentional community work for the educational center, while others work off-site of have their own micro-enterprises.

The Lost Valley intentional community provides a "living laboratory" for exploring, experimenting, and demonstrating the various practices that we teach. The site and intentional community form what we consider to be an "aspiring" ecovllage. Rather than fully completed or realizing all of our ideals, we are very much in the process ourselves of learning how to implement these new and challenging techniques. We feel that this stage is fertile for learning, research, ad growth.

Our Land, Climate, and Surroundings

Our land offers a diversity of ecosystems, including an oak savanna, a natural meadow, a stream and riparian area, a pond, forested land, and a regenerating forest. There are vegetable and perennial herb gardens, fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes. With the help of interns and volunteers, we produce enough vegetables to provide a large portion of the produce needed by the community and educational center. We also share our land with a flock of chickens, three dogs, two cats, millions of bees, and an abundance of wildlife. We have a swimming hole, a sweat lodge, two solar-powered showers, and a wood-fired sauna and hot tub. Lost Valley is surrounded bysmall farms amidst gently rolling hills, and within easy access of old growth hiking trails and lakes and the Willamette National Forest. Skiing slopes are about 1 hour up the road, and the Oregon Coast, with its water sports, camping, whale watching, and dune play, is about 1-1/2 hours away.

We get lots of rain throughout the fall, winter, and spring, during which the sky is often overcast. It tends more towards steady drizzle than heavy rain, although we certainly have our share of cloudbursts and rainbows. In the spring the weather is very changeable, often alternating between sun and rain on an hourly basis. The temperature is mild, although we usually have a couple of winter cold spells where the temperature gets well below freezing. Summers are warm and sunny, with usually cool nights and low humidity, although recent years have seen bursts of hot and sultry days.

We are just eighteen miles from Eugene, a lively urban center and college town, abounding with cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities. Eugene has a long history of both social and environmental activism and progressive politics, and is a center for organic food production and processing and sustainable businesses. On weekdays, there is an inexpensive bus service to Eugene, and hardy bicyclists can make the trip in around an hour and a half. Very often, members share trips to town.

Coming together in circles is a common ritual in our daily lives. We circle before meals, most of which are shared, for a song. We circle at the beginning of all business and committee meetings to align with a common purpose. And we circle before our bi-weekly well-being meetings where we strive to maintain close connections and loving, open, and honest communication. Living here gives one the experience of extended family and the reality of supportive friendships.

We hold a high regard for the various spiritual and religious practices through which our members find meaning in life. Some of these are done as personal practice and others are shared between some or all of the community. We use rituals from Celtic, Native American, and other Earth-based traditions to acknowledge and deepen our connection to the land that we are honored to steward.
We also seem to have a continuous stream of birthday celebrations and rituals to acknowledge various transitions and passages. As the mood strikes us, we have dance parties, jam sessions, group outings, games, and regularly enjoy the cultural and recreational opportunities in nearby Eugene.

Member Commitments And Community Economics

As a community member, we ask you to make the following commitments:

• Align with and support the LVC mission and goals, and all programs and activities of the nonprofit.
• Pay all member fees (which include food, housing, and community fees).
• Work the agreed upon hours of weekly community service (5-6 hours per week).
• Attend and participate in community meetings(2-4 hours per week).
• Live by the core values of sustainability, right livelihood, land stewardship, spiritual diversity, emotional and intellectual honesty, cooperation, sharing, and dedication to the common good of the community.
• Pursue some path(s) of personal awareness and development, and take responsibility for your emotions, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors and their effects on others.
• Maintain clear, open, and honest relationships with all community members.
• Proactively work to resolve conflicts and misunderstanding, including seeking and accepting mediation if necessary.
• When faced with conflict, misunderstanding, or challenges, with the community or an individual, to willingly and openly look at your own role, patterns, reactions, and motivations.
• Openly share/reveal information about any aspects about your life or past that may in any way negatively impact the community.
• Support each member of the community in having their needs fulfilled within the best ability and means of the community.
• Follow all policies, guidelines, and procedures established by the nonprofit and community, and willingly accept the consequences of non-compliance.
• Follow established and agreed upon processes for grievances, complaints, etc.
• Accept and follow all decisions of the community (or leave the community if differences cannot be reconciled.)
• Fully participate, in times of crisis, emergency, hardship, or exigency (either personal or community-wide), in the solution/resolution, doing whatever is required within individuals' means and abilities.
• Be cordial and welcoming to guests, visitors, and nonprofit program participants.
• Not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, religion, social class, economic status, or sexual orientation.
• Treat children with love and respect.
• Respect and honor the right of each member to follow his/her spiritual or life path.
• Practice non-violence in thoughts, words, and actions.
• Treat the land and all living things with reverence and respect.
• Clean up after oneself.
• Remember that there is no "they" at Lost Valley and that we are in this grand experiment evolving together as aligned and willing participants.

Community Service Commitments

The basic commitment of each community member is to contribute around 5-6 hours per week of community service plus attendance at our bi-weekly well-being and community meetings. The community service comprises:

Community Goverance

For residential and domestic issues that are not financial or having legal implications, the community at Lost Valley practices a mixture of concensus process (with a voting fallback in some instances) and a system of committies that manage particular areas of focus. Decisions with financial and legal implications are subject to oversight by the LVC non-for-profit organizational structure, which includes a hierachy of managment team, executiv director, and finally board of directors. Community members have the opportunity to be nominated and if approved, serve on the board of directors, which provides "checks and balances" within the system.

For many years, the LV community used a goverance model that was primarily a structure with no ackowledged hierarchy that involved a whole community concensus for all significant decisions. Many community members found that while they were first attracted to this model ideologically, in practice, it led to many residents feeling frustrated and wanting to change this structure. Reasons for frustration included: residents spending too much time in meetings to support their happiness and well-being, decisions that in many instances did not support the overall health of the organization (financially, legally or otherwise), and that without any formal hierachy, informal, unackowledged hierarchies of influence occured anyway. Additionally, this form of decision making was incompatible with the basic requirements of non-profit organizations, which the community is under.

Non-hierarchical whole group concensus processes may work well for certain communities, especially communities that are smaller, less complex, residential only (not trying to run a business), and that do not attempt to simultaneously use a legal structure that requires using a different decision making process.

For the past couple of years, residents have been researching and learning about different goverance models that aim to provide a "best of both worlds" of the participatory nature of concensus with the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of hierarchies. The processes that we have been developing, follow the principle of "growth hierachies" rather than "dominator hierarchies". In dominator hierarchies, the hierachy is used to keep people from growing in their ability to have a voice. Growth hierarchies support individuals growing into their ability to make complex decisions, while unlike concensus, ackowledging that people come to the organization with very different levels of competance in complex decision making. In the growth hierarchy, the goal is to delegate every decision that can be made effectively at the "lowest" or most grassroots level, to that level. Thus, the community residents in general are supported in making decisions as a group about residential matters that affect the whole group, which are largely opinion based and only require common sense to contribute, and which don't require legal or financial expertise that the group does not possess equally. More specialized decisions are sent to the specialized committee that consists of people who have the most direct knowledge about the issue. For example, the maintanene team makes decisions about details of how to perform maintenance, rather than the whole community or the board of directors. However, if that team overlooks something that impacts the organizations health, the managment team, executive director, and ultimately the board of directors have the ability to intervene on behalf of the organizations health. Rather than just being "affected by a decision", people in these various oversight roles need to demonstrate a competance at making decisions on that level. The growth hierarchy approach provides support and training in helping people to grow in this way, while being realistic that not everyone will grow at the same rate or have the interest or stamina to participate in that level. Thus the growth hierarchy also frees up time for community residents who want to enjoy living in community and entrusting other people who are interested and skilled in their areas, to manage those areas without them needed to weigh in or attend numerous meetings.

The intentional community at Lost Valley exists as a subset of the overall Lost Valley Center Inc. not-for-profit organization (LVC). The LVC umbrella also includes the educational center and it's related programs, the conference and retreat hosting services, and the Ecovillage and Permaculture Institute. The not-for profit legal structure of LVC is legally required to comply with basic goverance laws as stipulated by the state of Oregon and U.S. government. These require that LVC uses a hierarchical structure of governance, with the top level of decsion maing belonging to a board of directors. The board members are responsible for ensuring the overall well being of the organization and that it operates with financially and legally sound practices. The board consists of a mixture of people who are residents of LV intentional community and people who live elswhere who support the LVC mission and can provide needed skills and resources for the organization. Up to 49% of the board can be employees of LVC. There is a nominations committee composed of board members and LV intentional community residents who are not on the board. People who are nominated to serve on the board must be approved by the current board to join. To be accepted to the board, nominees must show a basic understanding and commitment to uphold of the responsibilities of being a board member in a not-for-profit in Oregon, a demonstrated ability to work cooperatively with others, and effectiveness at decision making, and support the LVC mission.

Fees

Each adult member pays $100 per month for food, a $300 monthly residency fee (which goes toward the mortgage, insurance, utilities, and other overhead), and monthly rent for their living space. The cost of housing range from around $120 for a small cabin to around $250 for a 3-bedroom townhouse. If the living spaces are shared, the rent is divided among those residents. There is a small community fee and graduated food fee for children, but no extra charges for housing.

In addition, each new member contributes a $250 one-time fee to our Community Development Fund upon being accepted as an Exploring Member. At the end of the year, upon acceptance as a Long Term Member, the member pays another $750. The Community Development Fund is reserved for expenditures that benefit the well-being of the community as a whole.

Employment and Livelihood

Our nonprofit educational center provides employment for about one half of the community members at this time. As the community and the revenues continue to grow, more jobs are created, but currently our income is not sufficient to support everyone. If there is a job available for which you are qualified, you can apply for it. If not, there is limited employment available nearby in Dexter, and greater opportunity in Eugene, which is 18 miles away. We are open to people bringing their existing home businesses with them or creating new cottage industries, particularly ones that utilize resources here on the land. There are also opportunities to create new programs that can operate as part of our educational nonprofit.

Housing

Community members live in various kinds of dwellings, including cabins, yurts, and more conventional townhouse style apartments. We are considering the creation of a community cooperative that would allow community members to invest their money toward new housing with the opportunity to build equity. Currently the land and permanent buildings are all owned by the nonprofit, Lost Valley Center, Inc. Our long-term vision is to build new housing that embodies our ecological and aesthetic values. We have recently completed renovations on our existing townhouse ("The Sol-Plex"), a co-housing area which now provides six living units, suitable for couples, families, or individuals (there is also a newly landscaped garden and courtyard: plans for the future include a children's play area, wood-fired hot tub, solar shower and deck as well). Housing is available on a seniority basis with adjustments for special needs and families. If you want to join the community and there is no available housing, you may be allowed to bring in temporary housing, rent near-by, or you may be put on a waiting list for spaces that open up.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for people who feel that their personal vision is aligned with ours and who see Lost Valley as a place where they can follow their heart's path and fulfill their calling in the world. We're interested in people who are committed to their own personal and spiritual growth and are well along on these paths, yet have also moved beyond a sole concern for their own growth and are ready to live, act, and work cooperatively, making a difference in the world.

We're looking for people who feel confident and good about themselves, have achieved a degree of emotional maturity, and can get along with others in a cooperative environment. We want people who are willing to open deeply to relationship, take full responsibility for their own feelings, beliefs, and patterns, and recognize their effect on others. They are willing to work hard to manifest what they want in the world. We do not profess to be perfect humans and we don't expect you to be perfect either. It is important to us that prospective members are willing to disclose their areas of damage or weakness and seek growth and support in strengthening them. 

We're not interested in people

• who generally feel they've been harmed, victimized, or taken advantage of by others


• who frequently feel angry with or blame others for hurting them   
• who are ideologically opposed to or unwilling to cooperate with the type of goverance structure described above.

It also doesn't hurt if you're a good cook and can do a little plumbing.

Children

We have various numbers and ages of kids living here, and we value and honor the roles of children in our lives and culture.

Some of our children are home-schooled, and some attend the local public schools (Pleasant Hill School District), while others attend charter or private schools in Eugene. We do cooperative childcare as needed. We are open to considering some new members with children if we feel they will fit well within our current mix. It is our strong preference--although not a requirement--that young children who are potential community members come with two parents or caregivers. We also look for families that exhibit strong and healthy relationships between parents and children.

Pets

We feel that we are at or beyond our limits with dogs and cats, and are unlikely to consider new members who have them. While most of us love dogs, they can frighten and injure wildlife and sometimes behave unpredictably around the large number of conference guests, including young children, who regularly flow through lost Valley. Cats have a severe impact on the native small mammals and birds. We might consider an indoor-only cat. Small indoor animals, such as parakeets, hamsters, rabbits and goldfish are unlikely to present a problem. Any prospective new pets have a "trial period" to determine if they will make good community members.

If You Would Like to Visit Lost Valley

For additional information on becoming a member, please click on the "Membership Process" link in our menu under "About Us."