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Ferns growing through ash. Some of the first plants to come back after the fire. Photo: Taylor Bright says Elson. “As soon as they were safe, they started working to protect their watershed and helping their neighbors to do the same. It ’s an incredible opportunity for people to come together and take care of each other and the ecosystem.” In November of 2020, CoRenewal set up five study areas with mycofiltration projects in recent burn scars in Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Butte counties. With five women taking the lead as site coordinators in the different counties, volunteers and fire survivors collected baseline soil samples from 29 different test sites, dug trenches and deployed straw wattles inoculated with oyster mushroom mycelium. Volunteers were encouraged to wear proper protective gear, such as respirators, to keep them safe on the study sites. CoRenewal was fortunate to receive generous donations of mushroom spawn from Mazu Mushrooms, Mycopia, and Far West Fungi. In addition to the study sites, CoRenewal was also part of a larger community effort known as the Post-Fire Watershed Defense Coalition. The coalition organized several Fire Remediation Action Days at additional CZU Complex Fire burn sites that utilized a variety of bioremediation options, including composted mulch socks donated by FILTREXX to act as microbial filters and erosion control, straw wattles inoculated with phoenix oyster mushroom, and the spraying of high quality compost tea donated by Catalyst Bioamendments on both compost wattles and regular straw wattles. “This mycoremediation research is just one tool in a large, multifaceted tool box”, explained Taylor Bright, a member of CoRenewal and the site leader for the Sonoma and Napa County study areas. “We need to focus on working with a diverse array of biological allies to not just remediate, but to facilitate true regeneration.” To Bright, there is much to be learned from observing Nature and listening to the land. “‘I’ve been noticing the patterns and life forms that are naturally emerging from the fires and how they are responding,” shares Bright. “You really see the regeneration of the fire-resistant trees and grasses. Ferns were some of the first plants that came back. Right now, Pyrophillis fungi, a tiny orange cup fungi, is just blanketing the ground.” While CoRenewal’s initial biofiltration project focuses on testing the efficacy of mycofiltration on the toxic runoff, Elson hopes to expand the initiative to work with bacteria and plants in the coming years. “Nobody knows what the best method is and that is what we are trying to figure out. We need to prepare for the next fire season, develop new tools for future fires, and expand our study to include new sites that are looking not just at post-fire biofiltration, but also at post-fire ecological regeneration, and introducing native microbes as part of that process.” CoRenewals Post-Fire Biofiltration Initiative will be one of the first studies to examine the effectiveness of mycofiltration in a post-fire landscape, applying solutions in real-time disaster response while also using a scientific approach. The team has collected baseline data, established controls, and will do four rounds of sampling to determine the effectiveness of the biofiltration installations. CoRenewal expects to have their findings ready by early 2022. To learn more about Butte Remediation, check out: https://butteremediation.com To learn more about how you can support CoRenewal’s wildfire remediation work, check out: www.amazonmycorenewal.org Leila Darwish is the author of Earth Repair: A Grassroots Guide to Healing Toxic and Damaged Landscapes (New Society Publishers, 2013). An audio book version of Earth Repair will be released in 2021. She is a community organizer, bioremediation educator, and disaster recovery worker with a deep commitment to providing accessible and transformative tools for communities dealing with the toxic contamination of their lands and waters. www.earthrepair.ca 52  | www.permaculture.co.uk
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Next issue deadline 15th May 2021 (PM109 published 31st July 2021). Contributions and enquiries to: Email: tony@permaculture.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0)1730 776 585 News and Events Permaculture needs to be more diverse and inclusive – and to spread the word further Permanent Publications and Permaculture Magazine want to attract more diverse and inclusive authors, photographers and artists for our book list and PM, and for video creators for our YouTube channel. We are looking to connect and recruit! We live in a global community and we want to reflect and represent this with what we do as publishers and as permaculture people. We are open to all people from all parts of the community, ethnicities, ages, genders. For too long, permaculture has been too niche, too predominantly white. We know there are brilliant, innovative people and communities out there who are already making a significant difference in the world. We want to share these stories with PM readers and also with the world’s media. extraordinary work with its farming community and beyond. GPI have trained over 13,000 farmers in a range of skills including beekeeping, setting up indigenous tree nurseries and planting food forests. They have established a micro-credit system for the community and teach children how to grow food and farm mushrooms for added income in schools. They teach permaculture design and train women especially in backyard farming. Permanent Publications Authors To date, our Permanent Publications imprint has published over 100 books. We want to increase the representation of BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of colour) authors on our list. If you have an idea for a book that you believe needs writing we would love to hear from you. Over the past three years our annual PM Prize has helped us connect with some of the most inspiring permaculture stories globally. This has included Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Australia, Asia, Europe, the USA and the UK. We are now seeking to take this to the next level. In response to Black Lives Matter and other consciousness raising events, we want to gather and share more stories and offer more examples of permaculture’s successes from right around the world and from our own doorstep as well. One of the most inspiring examples of permaculture work we have encountered is the Ghana Permaculture Institute (GPI) who won our inaugural 2018 £10,000 Permaculture Grand Prize for its Please read our ‘how to submit a book proposal’ guidelines here: https:// permanentpublications.co.uk/submita-book-proposal Permaculture Magazine Contributors PM relies for the most part on a mix of articles from its readers and from established authors/teachers/students/ practitioners on permaculture and related subjects. If you would like to contribute an article or photographs for possible inclusion in a future issue please refer to our guidelines and get in touch. We want to hear from all people and represent the myriad impacts of permaculture techniques in our pages. For more information please view: www. permaculture.co.uk/submit_an_article Members of the Ghana Permaculture Institute Left to right: CEO, Director and Trainer, Dr Paul Yeboah, Dr Agnes Ameyaa, Rural Women Poverty Eradication Leader, Frederick Pim Yeboah, permaculture student. Trainee Editor We want to develop young talent and offer a paid internship to someone young who is BIPOC and who wants to learn all about editing and publishing – someone with a passion for the environment. This work will include printed books, online posts and videos. Interested? Then please email your CV to: maddy@permaculture.co.uk This year’s International Permaculture Day takes place on Sunday 2nd May 2021 (‘or thereabouts’). It is a day of celebration and for showcasing the work of permaculturists globally. It is 24 hours of open homes, gardens and farms, films, community gardens, educational workshops, permablitzes and much more. It’s an opportunity to experience permaculture and meet its practitioners. Now in its 12th year, International Permaculture Day has expanded beyond its Australian homeland to become a global day of permaculture celebrated in over 35 countries. Learn more and add your event here: www.permacultureday.org Deadlines Permaculture No.109 EDITORIAL: 15 May 2021 DISPLAYS & CLASSIFIEDS: 15 May 2021 PUBLICATION: 31 July 2021 issue 108  summer 2021 |  53

Ferns growing through ash. Some of the first plants to come back after the fire. Photo: Taylor Bright says Elson. “As soon as they were safe, they started working to protect their watershed and helping their neighbors to do the same. It ’s an incredible opportunity for people to come together and take care of each other and the ecosystem.”

In November of 2020, CoRenewal set up five study areas with mycofiltration projects in recent burn scars in Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Butte counties. With five women taking the lead as site coordinators in the different counties, volunteers and fire survivors collected baseline soil samples from 29 different test sites, dug trenches and deployed straw wattles inoculated with oyster mushroom mycelium. Volunteers were encouraged to wear proper protective gear, such as respirators, to keep them safe on the study sites. CoRenewal was fortunate to receive generous donations of mushroom spawn from Mazu Mushrooms, Mycopia, and Far West Fungi.

In addition to the study sites, CoRenewal was also part of a larger community effort known as the Post-Fire Watershed Defense Coalition. The coalition organized several Fire Remediation Action Days at additional CZU Complex Fire burn sites that utilized a variety of bioremediation options, including composted mulch socks donated by FILTREXX to act as microbial filters and erosion control, straw wattles inoculated with phoenix oyster mushroom, and the spraying of high quality compost tea donated by Catalyst Bioamendments on both compost wattles and regular straw wattles.

“This mycoremediation research is just one tool in a large, multifaceted tool box”, explained Taylor Bright, a member of CoRenewal and the site leader for the Sonoma and Napa County study areas. “We need to focus on working with a diverse array of biological allies to not just remediate, but to facilitate true regeneration.” To Bright, there is much to be learned from observing Nature and listening to the land. “‘I’ve been noticing the patterns and life forms that are naturally emerging from the fires and how they are responding,” shares Bright. “You really see the regeneration of the fire-resistant trees and grasses. Ferns were some of the first plants that came back. Right now, Pyrophillis fungi, a tiny orange cup fungi, is just blanketing the ground.”

While CoRenewal’s initial biofiltration project focuses on testing the efficacy of mycofiltration on the toxic runoff, Elson hopes to expand the initiative to work with bacteria and plants in the coming years. “Nobody knows what the best method is and that is what we are trying to figure out. We need to prepare for the next fire season, develop new tools for future fires, and expand our study to include new sites that are looking not just at post-fire biofiltration, but also at post-fire ecological regeneration, and introducing native microbes as part of that process.”

CoRenewals Post-Fire Biofiltration Initiative will be one of the first studies to examine the effectiveness of mycofiltration in a post-fire landscape, applying solutions in real-time disaster response while also using a scientific approach. The team has collected baseline data, established controls, and will do four rounds of sampling to determine the effectiveness of the biofiltration installations. CoRenewal expects to have their findings ready by early 2022. To learn more about Butte Remediation, check out: https://butteremediation.com To learn more about how you can support CoRenewal’s wildfire remediation work, check out: www.amazonmycorenewal.org

Leila Darwish is the author of Earth Repair: A Grassroots Guide to Healing Toxic and Damaged Landscapes (New Society Publishers, 2013). An audio book version of Earth Repair will be released in 2021. She is a community organizer, bioremediation educator, and disaster recovery worker with a deep commitment to providing accessible and transformative tools for communities dealing with the toxic contamination of their lands and waters. www.earthrepair.ca

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