2024 Intermountain West Permaculture Design Certificate

Course Content:

Permaculture is a design approach that uses an understanding of natural and social systems to generate holistic design solutions that create mutually beneficial synergies. This way of approaching change is rooted in indigenous people’s knowledge, empirical science, and the design processes. In the intermountain west, this approach can reshape how we exist within a limited water environment and change the way we think about our homes, our neighborhoods, and our communities.

The course will introduce you to the principles and ethics that form the foundation for making permaculture design decisions, as well as a review of the dynamics of natural system and culminate in an applied permaculture design project.

Course Structure:

This course is a hybrid online and in person permaculture design course and learning will happen in two stages - online and in-person. The online portion will be made available in April and the in-person portion will be held May 19-25th in Moab, Utah. You must be fully engaged in both portions.

• Online Course: First you will be introduced to the principles and ethics of permaculture and the dynamics of the natural and social systems you will be working to design with. This stage will happen through a self paced, multi-module, online course and a series of weekly zoom meetings that will be held each Thursdays (April 10, 17, 24, May 1) from 6:30-7:30pm (MT Time zone). The online portion of the course will provide you with the foundational understanding required to fully engage in stage two of your learning: an 8-day, in-person, hands-on permaculture design workshop held May 19-25th in Moab, Utah.
• In-person Course: The in-person portion of the workshop will consist of daily lessons, discussions, field trips, and hands-on experiential learning opportunities focused on teaching each step in the permaculture design process, then inviting you to work with your fellow students and teachers to apply the lessons learned in each step to design a real site, with a real community partner located in Moab, Utah.

The Facilities:

The in-person portion of the workshop will be held at the Community Rebuilds campus in beautiful downtown Moab, Utah. Moab is a vibrant gateway community nestled into the most iconic red rock landscapes of Utah. Moab is located near two National Parks, home to hundreds of miles of world famous mountain bike and hiking trails, and adjacent to the mighty Colorado River.

Your registration covers your course fee providing you access to the online content and in-person instruction as well as free lodging at the Community Rebuilds bunkhouse in Moab, and breakfast and dinner meals each day with boxed lunches provided on field trip days. Meals will be prepared vegetarian using local vegetables when possible with meat provided on the side if desired.

The Community Rebuilds bunkhouse hosts up to 20 people across 10 private rooms. Each room has two individual beds and the rooms have access to multiple private bathrooms with adjoining private showers. The bunkhouse has a communal kitchen and living room spaces that will be available for your use. The entire bunkhouse is reserved for course participants only. It is not a requirement to stay in the Community Rebuilds Bunkhouse, however, hotel rates in Moab are expensive and the comradery of learning and working together outside of the course structure is synergistic.

Your Instructors:

Rosylnn McCann – Utah State University Extension

Ros is a Sustainable Communities Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, College of Natural Resources at Utah State University (USU). She uses conservation theory, communication techniques, and social marketing tools to foster environmental behaviors in the areas of land (land conservation, reducing, reusing and recycling), water (water-wise landscaping, decreasing water contamination and consumption), food (consuming locally with a focus on CSA’s and farmer’s markets), air (air quality and climate change), and energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy). She also teaches communicating sustainability, coordinates Utah Farm-Chef-Fork, and Sustainable You! kids’ camps, and co-leads the USU Permaculture Initiative and the Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest.

Ros spearheaded the USU Permaculture Initiative in 2013 alongside another USU professor by gaining permission for a garden site on main campus and a large part of the USU Moab campus, and by facilitating permaculture workshops in Logan and Moab with design consultant Joel Glanzberg. During those workshops, initial visioning took place with over 75 participants. Since then, she has completed two permaculture design certification courses, formalized the USU permaculture initiative, helped create a collaborative team on both campuses to ensure success, brought in various design consultants, secured funding, coordinated meetings and provided interns to move progress forward. The USU Permaculture Initiative has now reached a stage where many individuals with varied expertise are contributing to its success.

Jake Powell- Utah State University

Jake is an Extension Specialist in Utah State University Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Jake graduated from Utah State University in 2008 with a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture and minor in Watershed Sciences. After working professionally Jake returned to pursue a Master’s of Science in Landscape Architecture from Penn State University. Jake’s subsequent professional career has focused on uniting communities to their surrounding landscapes through collaborative planning and design efforts. He has worked throughout the intermountain west to envision and implement projects that span the scales from watershed planning and restoration efforts, natural resource conservation plans, recreation infrastructure designs, and developing community economic growth opportunities.

Jake’ research and extension efforts focus on analyzing how the design of communities, infrastructure, and sites affect water quality, quantity, and conservation at both the site and watershed scale, gateway community design and planning challenges, and recreation amenity development and stewardship. Jake works throughout the state of Utah to teach workshops on trail stewardship, water wise landscape design, and permaculture design. He is graduate of the Occidental Center for Arts and Ecology’s permaculture design certification course.

Jeff Adams - TerraSophia LLC.

Jeff Adams is founder and principal of TerraSophia LLC. Jeff builds capacity to regenerate the health of our watersheds by engaging community members through hands-on education projects and ecological design-build services. He has a depth of experience in water harvesting systems, erosion control, and permaculture, bringing a practical and integrated approach to each project with over 20 years of experience in various aspects of construction and landscape trades.

Jeff has collaborated with a variety of non-profits, public agencies, schools, businesses, and individuals to raise awareness and build skills for regenerative living. He has traveled extensively around the United States and beyond, teaching, designing, managing projects, and collaborating with many leaders in the field. Jeff holds a self-designed Bachelor of Science degree at Humboldt State University in Indigenous Technology, which he sees as the practical application of knowledge of a place to help meet the needs of that place, including all its inhabitants. Jeff is an EPA WaterSense partner through the Qualified Water Efficient Landscape (QWEL) program, UT On-site Waste Water Professional level 2, ASSE International Rainwater Catchment Systems Installer and Designer, and UT Licensed Landscape and Excavation Contractor. Jeff completed his first Permaculture Design Course (PDC) in 2002.

Host or Publisher Utah State University Landscape Architecture Extension