For life on Earth.
Our vision is a livable future.
Drylands Agroecology Research (DAR) is a Boulder County nonprofit that exists to regenerate landscapes to improve life on Earth. Founded in 2017, the organization operates across land stewardship, research, and community care. DAR implements innovative land management techniques on private and public lands, practicing grazing, agroforestry, and contour terracing to improve hydrologic function in desertifying landscapes. Alongside this, DAR stewards perennial food and medicine systems at two demonstration sites, exemplifying the potential to produce food in ways that mimic and benefit a healthy ecology. Broadly, DAR seeks to build a regional proof of concept for drylands agroecology that can help inform practices across the globe while reviving the land-human relationship that our future depends on.
Land
We implement innovative land management techniques on public and private properties, treating each site as a research opportunity to better understand how we can bolster the land's regenerative potential.
Community
When people come together on the land for the land, reciprocity becomes an innate practice and we strengthen the human-land relationship. That shift in place-based understanding creates the conditions for more resilient communities.
Knowledge
Through careful observation and honest measurement, we learn what effective stewardship looks like in dry and changing climates. We share that knowledge openly, contributing to a broader movement working toward ecological and societal health.
We are farmers, designers, and scientists. We are educators, activists, and researchers.
Our Responsibilities
Impact
Land Stewardship Projects
Over six years, DAR has completed 97 water management and agroforestry projects and now grazes 859 acres across 16 private and public sites.
From Our Research Sites
DAR has continuously monitored 4 sites
(167 acres) for 4 years. These are highlights from that subset of managed land.