Mountain Cloud Zen Center
Grants Awarded
The Land Stewardship Infrastructure Project will develop durable, accessible, and culturally informed outdoor recreation infrastructure that supports public access, environmental education, and contemplative practice with the land. Mountain Cloud provides a unique opportunity for outdoor recreation because of our proximity to Santa Fe's schools, downtown area, and neighborhoods, while maintaining a distinct sense of refuge and wild. Our goals are to: (1) Establish Signage & Wayfinding System that incorporates cultural, historical, ecological, and mindfulness learning: Install ADA-informed, high-contrast interpretive and directional signage aligned with state guidelines. Acknowledge Tewa land history, watershed ecology, and principles of mindful land care. Provide responsible recreation guidance (including dog-waste stations, etiquette, and Leave No Trace). Integrate QR-coded prompts for iNaturalist biodiversity monitoring, inviting visitors to learn local species and contribute to citizen science. Incorporate learning about pinon/juniper forest health, the effects of drought and fire, and encourage collective observation of recent fire mitigation thinning efforts. (2) Upgrade and Maintain Trails & Meditation Sit Spots: Restore, widen, and maintain the historic Wuest and Shukman Trails for safer, more inclusive access. Create shaded and seated meditation areas designed for elders, youth, and visitors of varying mobility levels. Engage professional trail specialists, erosion-control educators, and rainwater-harvesting experts alongside MCZC residents and community volunteers. Establish a “Walking Stick Library” to support mobility and safety, while engendering a culture of community and reciprocity.. (3) Improve Community Garden, Composting Systems, and Outdoor Meditation/Education Areas: Construct raised beds, upgrade compost systems, and enhance shade and protection structures for year-round instruction. Improve outdoor gathering and meditation areas to support ecodharma workshops, youth programs, and contemplative land-based learning. Offer hands-on soil health, composting, and mindful gardening workshops open to the public to raise awareness of the campus as a public resource. (4) Provide Land Stewardship Workshops & Build Local Partnerships While Trails+ funds infrastructure, MCZC will leverage this project to host public action-learning workshops in partnership with local organizations, youth groups, conservation educators, and cultural partners. These partnerships support long-term community engagement, environmental literacy, and inclusive access to contemplative outdoor recreation.
Mountain Cloud Zen Center (MCZC) is a lay practice community dedicated to making Zen teachings and practices available to modern meditators of any creed or path, and to building a community engaged in compassionate action for the benefit of all beings. We have been part of the Santa Fe community since our founding in 1985. Rooted in the Sanbo Zen lineage under the guidance of Valerie Forstman, an Associate Zen Master, MCZC offers weekly meditation sessions, introductory classes, book groups, and community teas that are all free, hybrid, and open to the public. In addition, the center offers multi-day retreats, online courses, and special workshops that cultivate mindfulness, insight, and ethical engagement. Our center’s culture is defined by a sense of grassroots community ownership and wide welcome, and we provide a low-barrier entry point by reducing forms or religious trappings that may feel exclusionary to those seeking the universal benefits of meditation. Our meditation hall —hand-built by lay practitioners— honors traditional Japanese Zen architecture while integrating Southwestern design through adobe walls, vigas, and earthen elements. The center sits on 24 acres of woodland in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains just outside the Santa Fe city line, where piñon, juniper, sandstone, and the presence of bobcat, deer, hawk, coyote, rabbits, elk, and many birds create a natural sanctuary for contemplative practice. Stewardship of the land has always been central to Mountain Cloud’s identity. Over four decades, the community has built and maintained mindful walking trails, spots for sitting and contemplation, a community garden, and outdoor meditation spaces, including a walking meditation labyrinth. We are a “gateless” campus, and the Santa Fe public is welcome to enjoy the land and contemplative infrastructure throughout the day. Many neighbors and their dogs also enjoy our trails, whether they are meditators or not. Both our “Ecodharma Program” and “Land Stewardship Program” bring deeper intention and structure to this longstanding practice of tending the land, integrating ecological awareness with Buddhist teachings to support a deeper embodiment of mindfulness and compassion, and care for all beings. While ecology and Dharma are really one in the same, the label of Ecodharma brings a focus that can open doors for deeper embodied experiences which can then lead to more impactful action and a more liberated community. We offer Ongoing Ecodharma Programs, Special Ecodharma Events, Community Work Days, and a special Land Stewardship program to explore these topics. Through these programs, we provide public education workshops on the land and about the land, welcoming meditators and non-meditators alike.