Healing Land & People

Help NCOLC combat two epidemics – invasive plants and addiction.  Donations to our Healing Land and People campaign will be used to pay people in recovery to remove non-native invasive plants from our nature preserves surrounding the Clear Fork Valley Scenic Trail.  

Jess explains what our program did for her recovery:  

“When I was on drugs, I felt like I was in a prison, I felt like I was chained up and I couldn’t do anything.  I come out here [to work in the woods] and I’m actually clean, I actually feel good and I have my own energy now. I can come out here and enjoy what this actually is about…This is the best thing that I have found for my recovery.”  Watch Jess’ video for her personal story.   We are proud that Jess has moved on to a higher paying job at a local factory. 

NCOLC Trustee Eric Miller explains how this got started:  

“3 years ago, we decided to try hiring recovering addicts, and convicted felons to remove invasive plants.  People coming out of prison, addiction, or both, need a chance to make an honest living and they can benefit from working in a quiet woods. Those employees who accept our training and who buy into our land ethic are excellent workers and they are thrilled to see the land restored through their daily efforts.   

The money we raise through this Healing Land and People campaign is spent on wages for those who do the physical work. They need money to pay their bills.  They need a chance to prove that they can work and hold a job.”

If you’ve walked along the Clear Fork Valley Scenic Trail, then you have experienced the results of their work.  Garlic mustard, multi-flora rose, and other invasive plants are removed so we all can enjoy the beauty and environmental benefits of our native Ohio plants – orchids, lilies, violets, to name just a few.

Your support for our Healing Land and People campaign will be used to help our woods and our workers to recover.  Donate today!

Your donation to Healing Land and People helps us offer people recovering from addiction an opportunity to earn an income and learn about land conservation, while they remove invasive species from our nature preserves.  

Paul, who worked a year for us before taking a higher-paying job says:

"I love being able to restore the woods to what the natural flora should be. It gives me time to get out here and think when I’m working. I also have been diagnosed with mental illness, so it’s definitely been a help to me being out here.  Stress free is a real good label for it.  If I want to scream out here, I can, if I’m having one of those days.  There’s no judgment out here, the trees don’t talk to you.  Sometimes you see some wildlife, like chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits.  It’s pleasant out here, with the birds chirping and the sunshine peeking through.  It frees you up."

Paul wants to inspire others who are struggling with addiction.  Watch his story here: https://youtu.be/b1UiWAZOlEg

We require honesty, hard work and careful attention to all the details of this job because our employees must treat our nature preserves as “sacred ground” at all times.  More than ½ our prospective employees quit the first day.  But the people who are ready to self-rehabilitate find they can replace an addiction or a bad habit with the joy of protecting and enjoying nature.