Welcome to Our Campus

The Center for Rural Livelihoods' forty acre campus is located six miles outside of Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Nestled along Calico Creek at the headwaters of the Willamette River, the forty-acre land trust site sits at the end of Hazelton Road, marking the transition of a rural residential road to thousands of acres of forestland. The site is located at the historical crossroads of several bands of the Kalapuya, Umpqua, and Siletz tribes where the trade language chinook-wawa was once prevalent.

The forty-acre campus of the Center for Rural Livelihoods is located in the borderlands of the Willamette, Umpqua, and Siuslaw watersheds. Raindrops that fall only a short distance away travel vastly different routes to the Pacific Ocean. Edges and boundary zones – the ecologists and cultural anthropologists tell us – are where excitement, diversity, and creativity happen.

We invite you to enjoy the uniqueness of the 40-acre site and to allow this crossroad to move you.

Our Residences

Three residential sites for the Leadership Incubation program, constructed with wood from the campus.
Three residential sites for the Leadership Incubation program, constructed with wood from the campus.
Three residential sites for the Leadership Incubator Program, constructed with wood from the campus.
Three residential sites for the Leadership Incubator Program, constructed with wood from the campus.

Our Garden

One acre organic garden and orchard
One acre organic garden and orchard
One acre organic garden and orchard
One acre organic garden and orchard
One acre organic garden and orchard
One acre organic garden and orchard
Our garden just a little farther down
Our garden just a little farther down

Strawbale Dormitory

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Natural Building

Natural Building
Natural Building
Natural Building

Our Forest

The forest is home to one of the longest running ecological forest stewardship experiments in the Pacific Northwest
The forest is home to one of the longest running ecological forest stewardship experiments in the Pacific Northwest
The forest is home to one of the longest running ecological forest stewardship experiments in the Pacific Northwest
The forest is home to one of the longest running ecological forest stewardship experiments in the Pacific Northwest
IMG_4092 event rental or campus
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Event Rentals

Enjoy the campus with your community, a Board retreat, or a workshop. Or stay overnight in our six-bedroom dormitory. Visit our Event Rentals page here. Please send any inquiries about event rentals to Josh@rurallivelihoods.org