Gathering Site Selection Criteria

How the site is chosen

The process for choosing a site for the Gathering starts on July 7th. Starting roughly at Rainbow Noon at the main circle is Vision Council. Vision council runs for as long as nessesary to get a consensus on the bio-region for the following year. Typically folks that really want the Gathering to come to their bio-region come year after year till they get a consensus. Sometimes when a bio-region gets alot of support, but not the consesus, that bio-region may get preference the following year. As anyone can participate in Vision council, anything goes...

Then there is also a Thanksgiving Council that is held Thanksgiving weekend in the consensed bio-region. This is a working council where the many issues dealing with the coming Gathering are discussed, as well as the location for Scout Council.

Scout Council is held at the end of April in the same bio-region. Typically the Scout council location is closer to the possible sites than Thanksgiving Council. Scout council is where the inital proposed sites are discussed. Many times the experienced scouts and/or local Rainbows have a rough idea as to good places to start scouting. Scouting then goes on pretty much till Spring Council.

Spring Council is happening this year June 10-11. This is usually held at the best of the proposed sites. This is the council where the actual site consensus is made. Nobody knows where the actual site will be till council has a consensus! Typically there are many folks camping in the rough area, and once the site is chosen, then Seed camp starts.

Criteria for a good site

There are a few things all good sites have in common.

Good Water - All sites need a good supply of water. Drinking quality water is the main thing that helps us stay healthy when we are on the land. Surface water in creeks and lakes is suitable mostly for bathing and washing, although it can be purified. Typically a good site has several springs. A spring in this case is a water source that directly comes from the ground. At a good spring, we can protect the source, and run pipe to elsewhere. In Wyoming last year there was close to 3.5 miles of water pipe.
Good Parking - Good parking is also helpful. Also Bus Village will be on the fringe of the closest parking lot, so a good water source nearby is helpful for Bus folk. Parking a few miles away is an option, and in that case shuttles are puesdo-arranged, although it can take a while to make it from the lot to the trail head. Good parking should ideally be close to the trail head, (or at least have a good drop off spot at the trail head). Parking lots are pretty simple, it's mostly making sure they're large enough.
Firewood - We burn lots of wood at a gathering. As wood is the main fuel for cooking and purifying water, we need a lot. We prefer already downed wood to standing trees. It's a big job keeping the fires going for a big kitchen unless there is plenty of wood handy. A long walk for firewood makes it hard to replenish supplies. We try to discourage indivigual fires and encourage group fires for two reasons. Group fires are more safe, and easier to keep an eye on. They are also more social. After all, we gather to be with Family. Indivigual fires are prone to being left. Most of the small forest fires we get are from unattended indivigual fires. Anyone that was in Wyoming last year saw how overwhelming a larger forest fire can be. Course that fire wasn't started by a campfire though.
Other stuff - Other important stuff is access. Access in this case means a an emergency back door road where we can transport injured folks from CALM that want to go to the Hospital. Often a good site has good enough vehicle accesss that seed camp and cleanup can drive real close. This helps with moving the heavier supplies around like ovens, stell plates for cooking, etc.