Dionondehowa Wildlife Sanctuary and School Inc. is non-profit and located on 217 acres bordering the Battenkill River in southern Washington County, eastern New York State.

While the Sanctuary serves as a refuge and recharge area, the School is dedicated to the Nature Studies and to the Healing and Expressive Arts, using them to engender social and environmental responsibility, in an atmosphere both contemplative and joyful.

First recorded in 1709, Dionondehowa is listed in Beauchamp’s Aboriginal Place Names of New York State. A word long associated with the river, it means "She Opens The Door For Them" and may have referred to the Eastern Door of the Iroquois Confederacy.

The Sanctuary is open to the public through the School thus allowing visitors to become familiar with the DWS&S guiding philosophy which includes philanthropically-based land use, quiet reflection, and richly animated dialogue.

The Sanctuary is never open to pets due to their disruptive impact on wild habitat.

The Dionondehowa Wildlife Sanctuary :

• provides a recharge area for wildlife on the Sanctuary and in the region
• contributes to the corridor which provides migration routes for large animals
• provides habitat for native plants and animals in an ever-dwindling natural landscape
• ensures riparian and landscape beauty for recreational users of the Battenkill
• contributes land to existing forever-wild areas

The Dionondehowa School :

• focuses on Nature Studies, the Healing Arts, and the Expressive Arts in a beautiful natural setting
• encourages the free exchange of ideas
• makes Healing Arts, Expressive Arts and Nature programs available to individuals of diverse backgrounds and interests
• engenders a sense of social and environmental responsibility
• offers skills for implementing social and environmental responsibility

The Land Trust

While almost all of us have looked across a broad sweep of land - relatively unencumbered by human presence - and felt our hearts soar with the natural beauty, few of us have been inspired by that experience to take a stand, to "draw a line in the sand" against the capitalist, expansionist mentality. Co-founders Geoffrey Ovington and Bonnie Hoag created DWS&S to provide an example of paradigm shift and an eternal experiment in minimally managed natural resources. Land is a commodity in the United States, something to be bought and sold for profit, with little regard for the health or integrity of the parcel, except as it may affect the price. Natural Beauty is expendable if it interferes with short-term gain. This near-sightedness is a global affliction. The initial 175 acres of the Sanctuary were purchased in 1991 with the soul intention of donating them to a land trust.

In 1995 that dream was realized when Dionondehowa was incorporated as a non-profit entity and received this first donation of property a year later. In 2006, after a 4-year Capital Campaign to raise $50,000, an additional 42 acres were added to the forever-wild land trust. While the Sanctuary will be allowed, by law, to flourish in perpetuity, it will be little more than a 217-acre park amidst housing developments if the larger community does not invest in the same vision, expanding its concept of ownership and community. Indeed the land comprising DWS&S would have been a developer's dream: a paved, town-maintained road providing easy access to many lots with extraordinary views. As a land trust Dionondehowa is able to "hold" donations of property rights from other landowners along the river corridor, throughout the watershed and beyond. While there are tax benefits for such donations, these are of secondary importance to those who feel the critical necessity of allowing "nature to take its course," of withholding our human interference, and of appreciating from afar some of the remaining natural beauty.

The marshy wetlands, creek bogs & banks, rocky ledges, acid meadows, rich bottomland, field hedges and woodland floors offer diverse habitat for countless species of plants, a pharmacopoeia of roots and leaves, flowers and bark, the mainstays of traditional medicine, once providing teas and tinctures, soothing oils and nourishment. The following lists just a few of the plants who flourish on Dionondehowa Sanctuary. Some are native, some introduced and some have migrated here.
© Copyright 1997

The variety of fields, woods, hills, hedgerows and wetlands which make up Dionondehowa's landscape provides a wide range of habitat for birds. The over-wintering species are abundant. Thickets, deep woods and cavities in dead trees provides shelter. Berries, nuts and rosehips are easy to find and plentiful; safe water sources are to be found throughout the Sanctuary. In summer, the bog/estuary provides hunting ground for the Great Blue Heron, Little Green Heron, Spotted Sandpiper and a variety of duck species. Mergansers are common in late winter and early spring along the Battenkill and its banks provide nesting sites for Kingfishers, Rough-winged Swallows and Bank Swallows. Water is a prime attraction for many warbler species. And the varied collection of hedgerows, forest breaks, meadows and widely mixed trees & bushes make the Sanctuary a good stopping-off point for many species in migration and an ideal nesting place for many more. Of the species listed most are nesters:

Among Vireos, the Red Eyed, Warbling, Philadelphia, Solitary and Yellow-Throated all have been sighted on the Sanctuary. The Indigo Bunting and Scarlet Tanager are regular summer visitors. The presence of many small birds and good habitat for rodents attract raptors both common and rarely seen. Among Owls, the Great Horned, Barred and Screech Owl have been sighted and may nest here. Osprey and the Bald Eagle are often seen in migration; a nesting pair of the latter has been confirmed on the Batten kill somewhat downstream from the Sanctuary. Kestrels, Merlins, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Northern Harrier, Red-Shouldered, Broad-Winged and Red-Tailed Hawks all have been sighted at the Sanctuary. The Dionondehowa Sanctuary has instituted two programs to insure habitat for certain species. A nesting-box trail for Bluebirds has successfully attracted nesting pairs for many seasons. About 24 acres of fields are maintained as grassland and lie undisturbed throughout June, July and into the first week of August. For species which were once common, providing this increasingly rare habitat has proven a boon to nesting. In just one summer, under this schedule, numerous Bobolinks, Horned Larks and Meadowlarks began nesting in the medium-length grass. It is hoped that in future years, this method of cutting will attract Lincoln's Sparrows and, in areas where fields approach wetlands, Sedge Wrens. The deep woods are, of course, alive with bird songs in spring and summer. The many varieties of Thrush are augmented in the morning and evening by the Veery's haunting melody. And the orchard attracts Orioles with their unique dress and song every spring.

Besides the many bird species, the Sanctuary offers a home to many animals, large and small. The backwaters of the Battenkill, for instance, provide the kind of slow insect-filled water favored by many amphibian species and which, in turn, become the prey of animals like the Fisher, Fox, Coyote, Skunk, Raccoon, and Heron. Both the Painted Turtle and Wood Tortoise find good conditions in these areas. Beavers are commonly found here and lodges are evident in most years at the river bank or in an island of wood debris which they construct. Fields attract Woodchucks; woodlands attract Squirrels, red and grey. The combination of woods and fields creates the ideal home for White Tailed Deer. Though hunting is not permitted within the Sanctuary, its varied habitat provides an ideal breeding ground for Deer. This is important for those who do hunt because the encroachment of suburbia in a formerly rural county reduces not only hunting areas but areas where Deer can breed. The Eastern Black Bear has been seen on the Sanctuary, but of course its wide territory precludes listing it as a regular resident. The same can be said of the Red Fox, Grey Fox, and Eastern Coyote. Although often observed here their territorial range is always wider than the Sanctuary's borders. In the undergrowth of the forested land lives a variety of snakes: Green, Ring-necked, "Brown" and Red King snakes among others. Snakes, of course, don't readily show themselves; even less so do we encounter the various species of salamanders who find homes on the forest floor and in places as inauspicious as fallen trees and rotting logs. The Red Eft and the Jefferson Salamander are examples of these. Others live in the creeks under rocks.

Washington County forests were heavily harvested in the late 18th and 19th centuries, as were surrounding areas of the great northeast forest. Vigorous regrowth has already made the 100 plus acres of woodland on the Sanctuary look, once again, like forest. The simplest and best approach to reforestation is to let it happen with minimal human interference. As the photo above expresses, the young growth will make use of the former pattern of exploitation without any help from humans. The present composition of the woods has changed in two centuries; the over-exploitation of species such as Black Walnut and Cherry has reduced the present numbers of these trees. The Chestnut Blight has virtually eliminated American Chestnut trees, which were once the dominant species of the forest. And Dutch Elm Disease has decimated the treasured American Elm. Using disease-resistant trees from the Elm Research Institute, the Sanctuary has planted some Liberty Elms in order to reestablish the presence of this species. Some Black Walnuts have been planted and Cherry is encouraged through the trimming of invasive vine growth. In the summer of 1998, the Sanctuary began reintroducing the American Chestnut in its blight-resistant strain.

The School holds classes year-round on the Sanctuary, in the renovated barn, and through outreach programs.

Nature Studies, Expressive Arts, and Healing Arts promote Being Alive As a Mystical Adventure – not to be taken for granted – and learning as a joyful symbiosis between students and teachers.

Nature Studies include Wild Plant Workshops, Deep Ecology Walks, and Being Quiet On The Land Overnight Retreats – allowing the Sanctuary to offer its healing properties, supporting us as we resensitize to ourselves by way of nature, by way of attentively quieting ourselves.

The Expressive Arts include Drawing, Writing, Sound Composition, and Movement. Innovative mind exercises expand the imagination while respectful discussion and gentle critique hone technical skills and nourish self-confidence.

The Healing Arts combine Energy Work, Reiki: Levels I, II, and III, Thresholds: Shamanic Perception and Technique, Plant Medicine, Drumming, Journeying, and Dancing On The Land – all for integrated intuitive healing.

Classes are intentionally small (6 – 10 students) and it is common to find young people and adults learning together.

Dionondehowa School intends for humans to reawaken to ourselves, to our sustaining natural surroundings and, by way of these, to one another through social and environmental responsibility.

DWS&S is a sanctuary for ideas as well as wildlife.

Speakers Available: Members of the DWS&S Board are available to speak about DWS&S and related issues, including natural beauty and human consciousness, the healing and expressive arts, land use, unmanaging natural resources, creating a non-profit organization, environmental philanthropy, and more.

Your tax-deductible donation works hard to provide habitat for wildlife and educational opportunities for humans.

How Can You Help? Discuss and Promote the ideological concepts of DWS&S. Donate your land or property rights to DWS&S, or another land trust. Offer financial support to DWS&S. Donations are tax deductible. Find quiet time in natural beauty. Volunteer to help with trail work. Attend and support the programs at DWS&S. Buy land to give it away. Unplug.
 

Photo Copyright© Carl Hazelton