Our services
In keeping with our nonprofit mission, Known Grove SLS will in-kind match all landholder contributions up to 100% through the cost of plants, shelter materials, and volunteer time. Pricing is set to the minimum required for sustainability in our organization, but still may not be approachable for all parties. If this is the case, we ask that interested individuals inform us honestly of their budget for projects, and we will tailor a plan to maximize the use of their contributions and subsidize the cost to the best of our ability utilizing donation and grant funding. We have a waitlist for fully subsidized projects through our RANGE 30by'30. We do not want financial ability to get in the way of excitement about getting started! We're here to help!
We do not use herbicides or pesticides in our services. To minimize disturbance and soil compaction, all projects are completed with hand held tools and battery powered small engine machinery (excluding gas powered long bar chainsaws) on grove sites.
All match-provided and organizationally installed species are native to within 250 miles of the Pocono Region.
Stewardship Plans
Our stewardship plans can range from basic care guides and timelines for system health, to advanced and detailed plans for integrated regenerative agroforestry with planting design maps and suggested routes for perpetual funding to maintain the system indefinitely. The focus of plans is on ecological system health first. They are designed with multigenerational long-term sustainability in mind and are holistic in their approach, treating human residents as active participants in the natural cycle and ecology of the land.
Pricing is dependent upon the size of the system, with a base price set dependent upon scope and additional charge per acre after the first. It is best to establish a full scale plan first, and focus-in on specialty zones later as funding and resources become available.
Lawn Conversion
Lawn conversion is the process of transitioning an empty or mostly empty turf lawn or hayfield into an ecologically rich, native habitat adding value for both the landowner and the local wildlife. Options for conversion include:
● General Rewilding
● Mammalian Food Forests and Forest Gardens
● Wild Orchards
● Aesthetic Songbird Habitat Arboretums
● Native Pollinator Meadows
● Riparian Buffers and Silvopasture
● Planned Forage and Sanctuary Spaces Pricing is mapped out on a per project basis.
Trail Building
● Basic Hiking
- clearing and marking
- no soil cutting or defining
- expected lifespan w/o regular maintenance and use ~2 years
● Walking Meditation & Enjoyment
- clearing, marking, soil cutting, defining
- ecological reports included for large projects
- expected lifespan without regular use ~5 years
- 2 yearly cleanups included
● Mixed Use Access & Riding
- clearing, marking, soil cutting, defining
- ecological reports and stewardship plans included for large projects
Regenerative Agroforestry
Regenerative native (regenative) agroforestry projects include silvipasture, forest garden, permaculture, and riparian buffer systems utilizing native species for integration into an existing ecosystem. These systems are meant to be permanent fixtures and are generally designed with long-term stewardship and sustainable harvest in mind. Natural balance and sustainability before profit is the mission with regenative agroforestry systems, maximizing ecological benefit alongside human agricultural needs.
Pricing for initial design and installation outside our RANGE 30by'30 project for regenative systems is primarily built upon lawn conversion pricing as a scaffold, with additional requirements for pruning, thinning, felling, management, and processing of existing species on site billed and invoiced in project phases at the hourly rate. Long-term and perpetual stewardship needs are worked out after installation. Specialty cultivars of high-yield native fruit and nut trees will need to be sourced outside of the KGSLS nursery at current, and do not count toward in-kind matching.
Active Stewardship
Active stewardship is an ongoing, hands-on guidance of the land’s development and overall health as a system. Along with regular ecological reports, grantwork guidance, selective biodiversity plantings, pruning, sustainable harvest, and trail maintenance, stewardship of the land includes holistic control of invasives through non-chemical means, such as mechanical cutbacks, girdling, and biological suppression.
Pricing is mapped on an acre-per-year (ac/yr) model with scaled pricing dependent upon the initial health of the system for projects outside of the RANGE 30x'30 program. The goal of the model is to graduate areas through the stages of development, reducing the cost over time to the landholder until the land requires minimal outside stewardship as a complete, healthy, and stable ecological system. Large land models may include multiple blended zones of different successional stages.
Consultation & Design
Known Grove SLS is able to provide per diem consultation and design work outside of regular contract commitments. This model can work well for organizations with existing land management capacity or landholders working directly with their system as a supplement to income. Lawn conversion plans, native permaculture design, and stewardship plans can be written up with approachable steps for the land manager to follow.
It is important to note that outside of active stewardship and installation projects, Known Grove SLS does have a 25 tree limit per resident year in the free nursery, with further restrictions on species dispersal dependent on availability and planned project needs. Outside sourcing of plants and materials will need to be secured, or additional planting needs outside of cost matching will have to be purchased from the nursery at the discounted nonprofit rate. This limit does not apply to partnered nonprofit and governmental organizations.
Costs for consultation and plans are fairly straightforward. Additional mileage costs may need to be factored in for day visits outside of Wayne County. Day visits are a flat rate up to 8 hours with travel time. An hourly rate is applied to time exceeding the 8 hour limit as well as work required off-site, such as design, research, and planning consultation. Site visits totaling to less than 5 hours including traveling time are billed at the hourly rate.