January 23–25, 2026
REWILDING CONFERENCE
Subsistence as Resistance
“The best time to plant an oak tree was thirty years ago. But the second best time is today.”
Our Mission
The mission of the Rewilding Conference is to unite the many individuals, groups, and institutions who are working hard under the banner of “rewilding” to restore the earth’s ecosystems and the human place therein.
What Rewilding Means to Us
In this introductory video from our 7th Annual Rewilding Conference, Founder Peter Michael Bauer explains the origins, meaning, and intentions behind the cultural rewilding movement–and how we use the term here.
January 23–25, 2026
Bridgespace Commons
133 SE Madison St, Portland, OR 97214
The Annual North American Rewilding Conference is part speakers, part Open Space, and part hands-on land tending. It is a think tank of some of the continent’s most inspiring rewilders and rewilding projects, as well as a social networking opportunity for rewilders. Here you will find individuals and grassroots organizations collaborating on a range of rewilding-related fields including ancestral technology, decolonization, wildlands restoration, ethnobiology, reintroduction of species, social and environmental justice, traditional ecological knowledge, and much more.
What is Rewilding?
Rewilding is the process of creating autonomous, place-based, regenerative subsistence cultures. It is rooted in social and environmental justice: in order to shift our culture to a regenerative subsistence model, we must dismantle the social systems in place that prevent people from doing so. At its core, rewilding is about restoring the health and vitality of our minds, bodies, relationships, communities, and ecosystems.
A note on the word wild: Though it carries many connotations, wild comes from the word willed. The “wild” things were and are the willed things: things that exist outside of civilization’s domination. This is why the myths of civilization simultaneously demonize and romanticize the “wild”; civilization hates and fears what is out of its control, yet also desires and fetishizes them (think: wild stallion). It is this attempt to control that which cannot be controlled that leads to destruction of ecosystems, health, and human relationships. Rewilding is, therefore, an attempt to return to lifeways that work with the flows, the wills, and cycles of nature rather than waging an all-out war to control them.
In Person vs Webcast Only
This year the conference is returning to in-person in Portland, Oregon. We have a webcast only option for people who cannot travel that includes the Friday Speakers and Sunday Keynote. If you register for the webcast, you’ll be able to stream the speakers, but not participate in the other aspects of the conference, such as the Open Space or Field Projects.
Conference Schedule
Friday, Jan. 23, 9 am–5 pm (PST) || Speakers
9–9:30 am | Conference Opening w/ Peter Michael Bauer
9:30–10:25 am | Michael Battle & Joy KMT
10:30–11:25 am | TBA
11:30 am–1:30 pm Lunch
1:30–2:25 pm | Sheila Henson
2:30–3:30 pm | TBA
3:30–4:25 pm | Peter Michael Bauer
4:30–5:00 pm | Social Networking
Saturday, Jan. 24, 9 am–5 pm (PST) || Open Space
9–10 am | Open Space Intro
10–11 am | Session 1
11 am–12 pm | Session 2
12 pm–1:30 pm Lunch
1:30–2:30 pm | Session 3
2:30–3:30 pm | Session 4
3:30–4:30 pm | Session 5
4:30–5 pm | Open Space Closing
Sunday, Jan. 25, 9 am–5 pm (PST) || Field Projects & Keynote
9–12 pm | Field Projects
12 pm–1:30 pm Lunch
1:30–3:30 pm | Keynote Aaron Johnson
3:30–5:00 pm | Conference Closing
Conference Presenter
Paulé Wood (they/them) has a background in Human Centered Design and has been professionally designing complex systems for two decades. Storytelling is a powerful and ancient practice; they have coached and facilitated workshops to help people break out of fixed and outdated thinking using storytelling, from environmental economics to queer/trans community.
A practitioner of de-armouring and Northern European magic, they use the Wheel of the Year as a framework to navigate at many scales and have led closing rituals at events and festivals using the "Wheel of the Event" framework to help people orient to leaving sacred communal space and return to the mundane.
A maker and repairer of clothing, tools, and community and a lifelong learner, they enjoy reading, listening, and discussing topics about resistance, mutual aid, alternative governance structures, cultural anthropology, sociology, and the way things work. Paulé is on the board of Rewild Portland and gave a talk, Rewilding Loneliness, at the 7th Annual North American Rewilding Conference.
KEYNOTE (SUNDAY) AARON JOHNSON
Song Circles and Singing as an Act of Resistance
Biography: Aaron Johnson is a facilitator, public speaker, and touch activist who practices closeness as a way to break down barriers between people. As co-founder of both Holistic Resistance and Grief to Action, Aaron takes the time to hold the stories of black people around homophobia, transphobia, internalized racism, and those that are Chronically UnderTouched. Aaron has created the Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project — basic strategies to bring a black body from being Chronically UnderTouched to a state of touch balance — as part of the lifelong journey of interrupting oppressive systems that make touch balance a radical action.
SPEAKERS (Friday)
Peter Michael Bauer
Having Stamina Through Collapse
Description: The collapse of civilization rarely happens overnight. For 25 years, Peter Michael Bauer has built his life's work around defining and feeling into this transitional shift from growth to diminishing returns. From alienating his friends and family in his youthful apocalyptic fanaticism, to leaning into the wisdom of slow and steady resilience building. What does it mean to see the demonic giant of civilization's collapse before us, and remain steady on the course of resilience? What reprieve can be experienced through a life's work of burying this demonic giant, returning it to the earth from whence it came? What does/can stamina look like when the odds are stacked against humanity? In this talk, Peter will explore what he has gleaned through a lifetime devoted to dismantling civilization.
Biography: Peter Michael Bauer is the founder and director of Rewild Portland. He has been the main facilitator of the Annual North American Rewilding Conference for every one of its 9 years. As an anthropologist, experimental archaeologist, historian, and life-long community organizer his work focuses on the social and environmental impacts of the neolithic revolution, and how understanding these impacts can provide us with solutions to the sixth mass extinction. Since the early 2000’s, he has been an integral catalyst in the cultural rewilding movement. This usage of the term rewilding is seen as a principle, or a lens, that helps people move through the world in terms of regeneration and reciprocity. His goal has been to amplify how the cultural rewilding movement works to create resilience through the return to place-based, regenerative subsistence strategies, inspired by those that exist outside of–and those that existed prior to–the formation of agrarian states. In the mid 2000’s he created the first international online rewilding forum (now archived at discuss.rewild.com), wrote a book on rewilding called Rewild or Die, and founded the organization Rewild Portland. He is the host of the popular podcast, The Rewilding Podcast w/ Peter Michael Bauer, and recently published “The Human Rewilding Movement: Iterative Application of Hunter-Gatherer Studies at Rewild Portland.”
Michael Battle & Joy KMT
Rewilding Beyond the White Imagination: Troubling the Borders of Nature & Solidarity
Michael David Battle, a radical resistance artist, thinker, Baba, and healer, embodies the spirit of an Aquarian born at 0 degrees on January 20, 1988. With an upbringing in Pennsylvania and Virginia, he graduated with honors from Chatham University in ’09, majoring in Political Science and Cultural Studies with a minor in creative writing. Barry University witnessed his mastery, awarding him a master’s in public administration in ’12. His family ignited Michael David’s early artistic spark. A survivor and advocate for black trans lives, he founded Garden of Peace, Inc. in 2012, a pioneering black trans-led arts nonprofit. Rooted in a lineage of strong Black women who have raised champions, Michael David’s journey intertwines personal resilience, connection to nature, and an unwavering commitment to environmental responsibility. His artistic expression becomes a tapestry woven with the threads of identity, exploration, and the profound influence of the powerful women who shaped his legacy
Joy KMT is a healer, poet, and ritual artist. She works from the possibility of the personal to be collectively transformational. Her work blends the magical with the reality of living at the crossroads of multiplicities, asking and answering incisively questions of identity as a queer black woman, mother&lover, born and raised in the hood. She is the producer of Her Voice: The Stories, Tales and Myths of Women of Color which premiered in the Sunstar Music Festival and Testify: A Black Womanhood Series. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, VONA, and Callaloo. She is published in multiple journals, anthologies and magazines, including Black Quantum Futurism Volume 1 and 2, Black Girl Dangerous, The Feminist Wire, Nepantla, Adrienne, Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, Blackberry, a magazine, Backbone Press, Fledgling Rag, Sugared Water, and others.
Sheila Henson
Conflict is a Gift
Description: Everyone seems to agree that we need stronger, more resilient communities, but many are still searching to understand what it takes to create and maintain them. There must be trust, authenticity, and the ability to withstand unfavorable circumstances. Conflict is an unlikely catalyst for this deep interconnectedness. Conflict, despite its demonization, is actually a gift.
Biography: Sheila Henson is an ADHD and Neurodiversity Coach and Educator, drawing from her personal experience with ADHD and Dyscalculia to empathize with and understand the challenges faced by her clients. With a diverse range of expertise, Sheila works with individuals, couples, families, and organizations, providing support through coaching, mediation, and training. She firmly believes that the keys to behavioral change lie in education, meeting individual needs, combating shame, and embracing self-acceptance. Sheila is dedicated to fostering connection and community, and is passionate about creating supportive and inclusive environments where people can learn to connect with one another and with themselves. Social Media: @adhdcoachsheila on all platforms
ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS TO BE ANNOUNCED
As we add our confirmed speakers, this website will be updated. Last year’s themes can give you a sense and flavor of the type of speakers we have in the works:
Indigenaity + biodiversity
A village of insistence
Landback from development
Solarpunk + urban living
Weaving + storytelling with more-than-human-kin
A tree in the machine
A comprehensive list of past speakers can be found in the archive section of this website.
Speaker TBA
Topic TBA
Open Space (Saturday)
At its heart, the Annual North American Rewilding Conference is set up for the Open Space portion of the conference. Open Space Technology is a non-hierarchical, organic, social collaboration tool best used to discuss and create solutions to a specific problem or issue. We have chosen to emphasize Open Space Technology because it is a way of rewilding a conference. Open Space does not operate like a traditional conference, in which only presenters or speakers give lectures or teach classes. While traditional conferences are structured so that a few people talk at you, Open Space allows us to generate discussions between everyone in the field of rewilding, from "experts" to enthusiasts, and at all levels, from institutional to grassroots. All participants arrive on the Open Space morning, create the topics, and lead the discussions. You can take part in whatever discussions you want. One of the most amazing things about Open Space is that it puts the known experts on the same field as the unknowns and laypeople. Everyone has something to contribute in a community, and Open Space is a way of pulling ideas out of the zeitgeist of the movement rather than expecting to only ever hear solutions from a few "thinkers." In an Open Space conference, everyone is equal and all ideas have an opportunity to be discussed, in real life, face to face with other humans.
How Open Space Works
Participants create the agenda first thing on the morning of the Open Space. People are given the opportunity at this time to announce their session to the entire group. Sessions can be added any time during the Open Space, but the morning agenda creation is the only time people are able to announce a session to the entire Open Space. This is an opportunity to discuss your burning passions and questions around rewilding. At Open Space, it’s the participants responsibility to make sure the things they feel are most needed to be discussed, are. This means if someone else doesn’t bring up the topic you wanted to discuss, it’s on you to make it happen! There is no pressure to “teach” or be knowledgeable in the area you want to discuss: as a session holder, you simply must hold space for the topic. You can host a session on something you know nothing about, as a way to bring in people who are passionate about the subject and may have the answers you’re looking for.
After announcing their session topic, including when and where they will be held, participants then post them on the Open Space "Wall of Confluence”. The wall is a grid with a list of session times down one side and locations across the top. The Wall of Confluence contains the agenda and schedule.
Once the session announcements are over, the Open Space begins. Participants then choose which sessions they would like to attend. Open Space Technology has five "principles" and one "law." The five principles are: Whoever comes are the right people. Whenever it starts is the right time. Wherever it happens is the right place. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. And when it's over, it's over. The one "law" is the law of two feet: if at any point during our time together you find yourself neither learning from nor contributing to the discussion, use your two feet and go someplace else. At the end of the day, participants come back together to share moments of the day.
Field Projects (Sunday)
After two full days of presentations and discussions, we venture out into the world to ground ourselves literally and figuratively, by working on the land. On Sunday morning, we break the monotony of indoor conversations, get outside and put our hands in the earth. The focus of the field projects is to show that humans can be active agents of regeneration from their subsistence to their tool-making to classic conservation. How can humans create, or become active agents in, regenerative ecosystems across a wide range of places, from home scale to private property to public land? We offer a variety of planting and restoration activities. This hands-on component of the conference is a way of learning new techniques while giving back to various food security and sovereignty programs through assisting them by offering our physical labor.
Testimonials
"Nowhere else in my world are people having the conversations that people at Rewild are having. This is not because people aren't dying to talk about these topics but because the conditions haven't been created in enough spaces. Environmental education that doesn't address the inner violence of colonial culture won't get past mere skills, and we can't simply bow-drill our way out of modern problems. I left the conference feeling a grounding sense of awe and gratitude—something truly special happened this weekend and I only wish we didn't have to wait another year to gather like this again." - Colleen
"The conference left me feeling inspired and connected to a large base of people working on radical change in our world. The culture was supportive and exploratory, with so much room for our human cracks. I felt encouraged at the way people listened and shared openly, allowing the depths of what we truly care about to be seen." - Heron
"What an amazing weekend! The simplicity and power of the open space format allowed for our individual and collective brilliance and inquiries to steer us. It was humbling to both contribute and listen to the intellect, heart, skills, songs, and stories of our community. I came home full of a richness of practical next steps, inspiration, and new friendships. I am so grateful to have attended and already added next year's dates to my calendar." - Leah
"The Rewilding Conference provides a truly unique chance to provoke thought and inspiration while nurturing mutual opportunity and community connection. This brilliant band of folks brave enough to peek through the looking glass are a hoot to boot! I am already looking forward to next year, and I am a serial conference avoider...THANK YOU!" - Rose
"How wonderful to gather people together for rich dialogue around rewilding and how to create that tangibly in all our spheres. Together we can shift our collective reality towards a wild and connected future." - Kim
This event is hosted by Rewild Portland, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We do not have investors who make money from this event. Any money earned goes back into our mission to create cultural and environmental resilience through the education of earth-based arts, traditions, and technologies. Click here to learn more about our organization and our values.