Partner Spotlight: Earth Sangha

This month, we interviewed Maddie Bright, Executive Director of Earth Sangha, a non-profit organization based in the DC area that ecologically restores natural landscapes through volunteer work with native plants. Earth Sangha often partners with NVCT to encourage native plant cultivation, invasive plant removal, and restoration work on our properties!  Maddi shared some of her history with Earth Sangha, their successful collaboration with NVCT, and plans for our partnership in the future!

1. How long have you worked for Earth Sangha? How did that journey begin?

“I’ve worked at Earth Sangha full time since 2001, on staff, I’m the Executive Director and sit on the board”

Fun Fact: Maddie’s parents started Earth Sangha! Founded in 1997, Maddie was 7 or 8 years old and can recall going out with her mother and father to collect acorns for tree planting. “The organization is like a sibling to me,” said Maddie

2. What inspired your parents to start this organization?

“You know “sangha” is a Sanskrit word that translates roughly to community; this organization began as an outgrowth of meditation. They wanted to be more engaged in their own practice. My mom had worked in the non-profit space and social services, and my dad had worked at a horticulture society and as an invasive species specialist.” Earth Sangha combines their interests under their Buddhist beliefs in action. While their mission is ecological restoration as a form of socially engaged Buddhism, their work is secular and strictly based in science.  

3. In your own words, what does Earth Sangha do? How does your work benefit NOVA?

“We’re plant-focused, and at the core of our mission is protecting local native plants and their habitats. A large part of that is providing these plants for restoration purposes, all from seed or spore that we collect, whether to the public and home gardeners or for restoration work on conservation easements held by NVCT.”

Earth Sangha has a native plant nursery where they grow and sell native plants for the public to add to their green spaces, like gardens and yards. They distribute about 50,000-60,000 plants from their nursery every year. Volunteers are what keeps the nursery up and running, they label plants, water them, weed, go out to collect seeds and prepare seeds for planting.  

Interns,Shogofa, Justin, Astra, and Mikaila, seed collecting in the field for our Wild Plant Nursery

“we build community through our work at the nursery, the benefit is we are helping reconnect people with our lands and waters, by getting people back in touch with that, we need to find better ways to steward our land.”

4.  What do you feel the Earth Sangha gains from working with NVCT?

“A huge amount, we’ve worked with NVCT at a few sites, one of the most exciting sites that we have worked on is Little Hunting Creek preserve, we work with Friends of Little Hunting Creek and NVCT to remove invasives and help cultivate native plants in their place. There are some real treasures on that site.”

Maddie explained that Little Hunting Creek is a tidal wetland, a landscape that buffers against storms, filters pollutants from the water, and provides habitat for various plants and animals. Little Hunting Creek is one of the key tidal wetlands in Northern Virginia. Maddie said, “ There are a lot of species of plants that are only found in tidal wetlands in our area. They are in decline because the Potomac has had fluctuating years of drought and flood. The wetlands are in poor shape, and we are losing those species. Little Hunting Creek provides a safe habitat for these rare plants.”

5.  What are some of the most exciting or impactful projects you're currently working on?

“I’ve been excited about the less common plant species we’re propagating.

Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita) is found in James and the mountains, and we’re working with the DC Department of Energy and Environment to help grow specimens and plant them in the wild.”

6. What are some of the positive impacts you’ve seen from Earth Sangha’s work?

“It’s been tremendous, the amount of change you see. The average person who joins has limited knowledge about conservation and native plants; seeing how much knowledge they gain is astounding. We do a lot of outreach. Our volunteer events have some educational component. The DC area has a phenomenal mosaic of people working on this, like Plant Nova Natives. People get more in touch with the natural areas they live in. Things can feel gloomy, but being able to look back, we are primed for more success than we were 10 years ago.”

Interns and volunteers posing with a large pile of Rosa multiflora they removed at Mason District Park

Earth Sangha often brings volunteers to join NVCT volunteers for invasive pulls on our Little Hunting Creek Preserve and Terborgh Terrace Garden preserve! Their help has eliminated a majority of invasive patches on both properties.

7. In your opinion, how do native plants contribute to building a more sustainable future in Northern Virginia?

   
   

“I think through a ton of different ways. One interesting thing is that it encourages people to think more nuancedly about their yard or community green spaces. Superficial messaging of the past, “let’s plant trees,” has changed to “maybe we could lose the tree canopy to reestablish prairie spaces or tree savannahs. The intersection between land management, native plants, and wildlife management is so much more sophisticated nowadays.”

Michaelanne Makuch, Restoration Manager, working at a restoration planting at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park

Another project that Earth Sangha has participated in is restoration efforts at Elklick Park in Fairfax County. “We helped the county restore Elklick Park, and it is now Fairfax County's largest meadow that has cultivated grassland birds, like Bobwhites! Before, you needed to drive to Loudoun County to see them, now you can see them in Fairfax!”

8. What can individuals do to support ecosystem restoration in their communities?

“I would say, the best thing you can do is get more native plants on your land, reduce lawn space, set the lawn higher so you have insects in there. If you have a contractor come spray pesticide, stop doing that. The average suburban yard can be an ecotone; a transition area from wild habitats for living things.”

9. What role do you think NVCT will play in upcoming plans at Earth Sangha?

“The biggest plans for us are a nursery relocation and expansion project. We are working to have more growing space and larger-sized stock. We hope to supply those to NVCT for plantings and future projects!”

Earth Sangha envisions this nursery supplying ecosystem restoration efforts across the region to help conservation happen in Northern Virginia!

10. What’s the most rewarding part of working in ecosystem restoration for you personally?

“My absolute favorite part is to go out to sites and just see our plants thriving, to know there are hickory and oak trees that tower over me that grow from seeds that we collected. It makes the impact tangible.”

We’re excited for Earth Sangha’s upcoming projects and to help sow the seeds of restoration across Northern Virginia!