The People’s Forest will be a place to explore collective guardianship, to weave stories, to create moments of community connection. A place to gather, to dream, to find solace. To cultivate a human earth reciprocity. Establishing a common land that can be cherished.

The land is already home to a wide forest ecosystem including: rare birds of prey, nightingales, hoopoe, golden oriels, honey buzzard, red kites, white booted eagles, deer, snakes and boar and an abundance of natural life. This land is a key resource for maintaining the rhythm and abundance of the whole area. We will create The People’s Forest in service to this beauty and the potential that places like this offer to the environment, cultural heritage and human vitality,

Story from the land

Cultivating ecologies through care
The Peoples Forest will become a living landscape, a model of a place where humans as nature thrive. We will seed a land tending vision that works alongside the animals and elementals of the forest, the waterways and other animals - to together cultivate a deeper enriched landscape. One of vitality and diversity. Elevating the voices of Earth Guardians to build long-lasting and radical alliances with the ecosystem. A seed that will inspire generations to come.

Culture as Activism
These ecologies of care will involve the local community at the center, together creating spaces for gathering and collaboration. Through the reverence of being with and within the forest, the work will promote environmental and cultural change.



Finding stories, becoming myths
The landscape is alive with stories and one of these stories is Turtle Rock. Nestled within a glade of oaks. One of many enchanted encounters that weave themselves through the landscape of The People’s Forest. Turtles in many cultures represent the universe, in itself forming a cosmology. Turtle rock invites us to contemplate the deep qualities of harmony and time. Opening us to a landscape waiting to be woven into the stories of the heart.

The wisdom of the local area
The Valley of the Serra de Gardunha between the villages of Alpedrinha and Póvoa de Atalaia is currently a unique and diverse landscape. In many places still the small scale farmsteads that carry the wisdom of a life close to the land. With the historic village of Monsanto in view to the East and the historic village of Castelo Novo to the West. The root meanings and legends connected to the mountain refer to notions of refuge, providing safety and protection.

This landscape, in view of the Gardunha offer a refuge for wild plants, animals and humans to co-exist amongst the pastoral practices with the majesty of dark skies. The land has sacred and creative roots, with two walking trails passing through it, one a camino that links to the walking paths of the Serra da Gardunha and beyond and the other a route in honour of the Portuguese Poet Eugénio de Andrade, whose poetry was born in this landscape