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About
The Turtle Island Bioregional Congress (TIBC11) is a five-day continental gathering taking place September 15–19, 2026 at Camp Cedar Ridge in Vernonia, Oregon. It brings together approximately 300 place-based organizers, land and water stewards, Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, artists, and community members from across Turtle Island to grow relationships, share knowledge, and take collective action for the living world.
TIBC11 is the eleventh in a lineage of continental bioregional congresses stretching back to 1984 — and the beginning of a new chapter, one that centers Indigenous leadership and the wisdom of those who have always known how to live well in their places. At a moment when old structures are failing and people are hungry for something real, the bioregional movement offers a path rooted in place, community, and the long-term health of the land and water we all depend on.
On the name "Turtle Island"
"Turtle Island" is the name many Indigenous peoples of this continent have used since time immemorial to refer to the land now called North America. The name comes from a creation story shared across many Native traditions in which Sky Woman (also known as Star Woman) falls from the heavens and, with the help of the animals, builds the earth upon the back of a great turtle. In its many variations, this story reflects a deep and living relationship between humans, land, and the more-than-human world.
Previous continental bioregional congresses were held under the name "North American Bioregional Congress," a name that, however well-intentioned, centers a colonial geography. We have chosen "Turtle Island" deliberately, in conversation with and with the support of Native members of our advisory circle, whose guidance we are grateful for and continue to seek.
Using this name is an act of respect and recognition. TIBC11 supports only peaceful, non-violent efforts toward justice and healing. Calling this land Turtle Island is, for us, an act of honoring the original inhabitants of this continent and the enduring wisdom they carry about how to live well in this place.
On the name "Congress"
The word "congress" means, simply, to come together. A typical conference is primarily a presentation format: experts speak, audiences listen, and participants leave with new information. A Congress is different. It is a collective body gathered to do work together: to deliberate, decide, and coordinate action.
At TIBC11, the program reflects that difference. Rather than a schedule of back-to-back presentations, the Congress weaves together multiple modes of gathering: talking circles, open space, emergent programming, and group convergence.
The result is less a conference you attend and more a congress you participate in. We’ll walk away not just with new information, but inspired, connected, and with a coordinated plan for action.
Who may attend
TIBC11 is open to anyone who feels called to be there.
The Congress is especially for people who are already working, or want to start working, at the local level to create flourishing futures for humans in balance with the living world. If you are organizing in your watershed, tending land, building community resilience, working on food sovereignty, practicing ecological restoration, supporting Indigenous rights, developing bioregional governance, or simply feeling the pull toward deeper connection with your place and the people in it, this gathering is for you.
We welcome people from all bioregions of Turtle Island: seasoned organizers and curious newcomers, elders and youth, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, scientists and artists, farmers and technologists. The Congress is most alive when its participants reflect the full diversity of the continent and the many ways people are showing up for the living world.
You don't need a title, an organization, or a particular expertise to attend. You need only a genuine commitment to your place and a willingness to learn, share, and act alongside others doing the same.
A brief history of the Bioregional Congress tradition
The modern bioregional movement in North America took root in the 1970s, when thinkers and activists began asking a radical question: what if human communities organized themselves not around political borders, but around the living systems (the watersheds, forests, and ecosystems) they actually inhabit? Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft of Planet Drum Foundation in San Francisco, and David Haenke in the Ozarks, were among the early pioneers who gave this vision both language and momentum.
By 1984, that energy had grown enough to convene the first continental bioregional congress on the Tall Grass Prairie in Missouri. Over the next 25 years, nine more congresses followed, gathering in the Great Lakes, Cascadia, the Gulf of Maine, the Edwards Plateau of Texas, the Ohio River Valley of Kentucky, Cuauhnahuac in Mexico, the Tall Grass Prairie of Kansas, the Southern Appalachians in North Carolina, and finally the Cumberland region of Middle Tennessee in 2009.
These gatherings were not conferences. They were living experiments in place-based democracy, spaces where people came to report on the health of their home landscapes, share skills and strategies, and weave relationships across the continent.
After 2009, the congresses paused. But the underlying current never stopped moving. Today, a new generation of bioregional organizers is emerging across Turtle Island: people building local resilience, reviving land-based culture, and finding each other across watersheds and mountain ranges. TIBC11 in 2026 is the continuation of that long lineage: the eleventh congress, and the beginning of a new chapter.