Wilderness Community

With our wilderness community you can experience a real and achievable nature connection. Here you can drink water from mountain streams, breathe crisp, clean mountain air, harvest berries, hike through alpine valleys, catch fish in the alpine lakes and be a contributor to nature’s natural order. There’s no cell phone, no traffic, it’s off grid and self-sustainable.

Our Wilderness Community's Foundation

Our community is built on our Six Principles of personal development, nature connection, nature conservation, self-sufficiency, empowerment and consciousness and awareness. These Six Principles are how we embody environment, social and governance factors, taking responsibility for our environment, both natural and cultural.

We also use Maslow’s hierarchy as a way to track our progress as we become more deeply immersed in nature and clearer on our interests, goals and purpose. We treat everyone as equals where women and men take responsibility and initiative to be leaders, guides and mentors.

Find out more about our Six Pillars on Our Community page.

Quick Facts

  • Our wilderness community operates a 6000 square km guide territory in the Chilcotin Ark’s southeast corner 
  • Twenty-five wilderness camps which we use as satellite research centres
  • 30 acre ranch property, our base camp research centre
  • Our ranch property consists of the historic lodge, modern log cabins and prospector tents
  • High-speed internet for research projects
  • We cook shared meals and everyone makes their contribution to the community
  • We share our home with horses, chickens, cats, dogs and the resident wildlife
Wilderness Community

Find out more about the Chilcotin Ark of British Columbia, Canada. This 2.5 million hectare area is of international ecological importance. 

The Chilcotin Ark is ....
- A crucial refuge for plant and animal species in times of climate change
- Uniquely bio-diverse

And home to...
- 11 of the 29 big game species of North America
- Blue Listed* American mountain goats
- Federally and provincially protected woodland caribou
- Blue Listed grizzly bears
- Blue Listed California Bighorn sheep
- Abundant populations of the endangered white - bark pine
- 12 of the 16 biogeoclimatic zones of British Columbia

*Blue Listed species are sensitive or vulnerable to human activities or natural events and so increases our responsibility to conserve them.

Find out more from our partner, the Chilcotin Ark Institute

Self-sustainability

Our wilderness community facilitates a self-sustainable lifestyle. Currently we:

  • Grow some of our own food in our garden and collect eggs from our chickens
  • Use non-chlorinated pure mountain water gravity-fed from a nearby creek to reduce our dependence on the system
  • Use wood fires to heat the buildings
  • Harvest as much of our food as possible from the local area. This reduces the impact on the environment, lowering food miles and the use of pesticides, hormones and steroids in our food
  • Can produce our own electricity through generator, water power and solar
  • Are working to increase our self-sufficiency into the future

We have an international community of stewards, supporters, guests, staff, interns and students. By collaborating, we create our communal strength with our Six Principles as the foundation. 

The ranch community is a multi-generational community learning from the laws of nature. This teaches critical thinking, responsibility, initiative, ownership, commitment and a positive attitude. 

We are an entrepreneurial community, which gives our community members the opportunity to start their own business and creates a diverse range of opportunities for the ranch community. Find out more on our entrepreneur program page.

Being healthy comes naturally. By staying active, eating healthily, not smoking, drinking or using drugs the ranch community isn’t affected by many of the health problems that impact society.

Before joining the ranch community, community members felt stuck in their life, they were looking for something more. They were motivated by a desire to return to the nature connection they experienced as a child. They wanted to grow and evolve and experience a different way of life than what was available to them in the city. They were looking for diversity, growth opportunities and to do something meaningful by contributing to conservation or other people. 


Are you ready for more in life?

You are the master of your destiny. Will you take ownership for your life today? 

Join us on the Trail to Empowerment towards a greater sense of personal development, nature connection and nature conservation. Evolve with a positive mindset by facing challenges and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. 

The only remaining question: If not now, then when?

Trails to Empowerment