The History of The Great Lakes Bioneers Conference
Sally VanVleck and Bob Russell were married and started a nonprofit organization, the Neahtawanta Research and Education Center (NREC), on the same day. They had attended Bioneers conferences in California and wanted to bring the power of that experience to their home and their people in northern Michigan. That same year, the national Bioneers organization simultaneously decided to launch a satellite conference program. This was late in the year 2000. In the beginning of 2001, having gotten wind of these plans, Sarna Salzman and Pete Muñoz of SEEDS pestered Bob Russell and Sally VanVleck of NREC to let them help with an event as fun and as enlightening as Bioneers. Pete and Sarna put their all into it and SEEDS become an official Co-Sponsor of the event. At that time SEEDS was only 3 years old and the Bioneers was one of the earliest “real” projects – something that went beyond the boundaries of back yards (or, in Sarna’s case, apartment parking lot).
NREC provided the network and the wisdom of decades of organizing experience. SEEDS provided a renewed vigor and sense of possibilities. As things progressed, the conference and SEEDS both grew. Sally procured a life changing grant for SEEDS from the Pierce Family Foundation that was to enable NREC to step back from the gritty details of the conference and let SEEDS provide that labor. Thus did Sarna become the first official Conference Coordinator and also the first official (albeit part-time) employee of SEEDS. We stayed together because we are a good fit – after all NREC and SEEDS share the same summer solstice anniversary date!
The Bioneers are at the forefront of the next generation of planetary inhabitants. The ideas that come out of this conference refuse to be kept in neat categories and boxes but rather vehemently co-mingle with one another. Bioneers as people refuse to compromise ideals, though they are swift to collaborate. Bioneers recognize but don’t get caught up in the despair associated with global habitat shift, rather focus on the solutions, the hope and the inspiration to be found there. Finally, Bioneers works hard to spread these messages, principles and methods.
The people of NREC and of SEEDS live by these principles as well. We view it as mission-critical to get more folks in our neighborhood on the same page and speaking the language that is found at the crossroads of ecology and social justice. Great Lakes Bioneers activities are experiential educational opportunities that we want to offer our community. The Great Lakes Bioneers network develops our community into a place that puts the fun back into survival. A thriving Bioneers community means better odds for organizations like NREC and SEEDS to thrive.
Today, the Great Lakes Bioneers in Traverse City have held 10 conferences, have helped spur the development of Great Lakes Bioneers movements in Detroit, Cleveland, Three Rivers, PA and Chicago. We are working now on visioning the next decade of revolutions from the heart of nature.
