From Seed to Eternal Forest Sanctuary in Faia Brava

Eternal Forest in Faia Brava: The Seed of a Living Sanctuary

In the Côa Valley, UNESCO heritage site where human beings have been leaving marks on stone for tens of thousands of years, the first Eternal Forest Sanctuary is beginning to take root.

Eternal Forest in Faia Brava is a 12-hectare artistic and ecological site embedded inside the 1,000-hectare Faia Brava Nature Reserve, one of Portugal’s leading conservation landscapes, stewarded for over 25 years. This is the first full expression of the Eternal Forest model in Portugal: a long-term forest sanctuary where ecological regeneration, art, community stewardship and protection come together.

In 2026, the project will move from the first Seed into the first implementation area: completing the sanctuary design, implementing a water retention system, planting 2,500 native trees and plants, and holding a public regeneration event in November with community participation, planting and cultural programming.

The project is developed in close partnership with Faia Brava as land steward, and in cultural dialogue with the Côa Museum and Côa Park Foundation.  The sanctuary is emerging inside a territory already marked by deep time culture, recent land abandonment, and community resilience.

Project in Numbers

Already completed: 35-metre Seed of Eternal Forest created with 500 trees and native plants in November 2025 1,200 native trees and plants planted with Quercus in February 2026 €34,600 mobilised through crowdfunding, in-kind contributions and core team contributions

2 community events in 2025-2026

Internal workshop with partners - Faia Brava and Coa Foundation

2026 plan: 1.5-hectare first implementation area 2,500 native trees and plants committed by Quercus 1 water retention system November 2026 public regeneration event

Longer-term: 3–5 year transition toward a local and extended Circle of Guardians

Why This Place

Like many rural landscapes across Portugal, this territory carries the marks of extractive land use, soil degradation, loss of water retention, ageing populations and disconnection between people and land. 

At the same time, Faia Brava holds a rare possibility. Over the last 25 years, the reserve has protected land and supported important conservation work. Eternal Forest builds on this work by adding another layer: culture, community participation, artistic design, long-term guardianship and a renewed story of land regeneration.

The question is not only how to restore biodiversity but also how to restore relationship with the land.

What We Are Creating

Eternal Forest in Faia Brava is being designed as a living work of art: a forest sanctuary that restores ecological health while also creating cultural meaning, community guardianship and long-term care.

• Ecological regeneration: soil health, water cycles, habitat resilience, biodiversity and native plant communities.
• Artistic spatial design: land-based interventions, eco-art trails, gathering spaces and living landmarks that help people connect with place.
• Community participation: local people, artists, children, scientists, schools, land stewards and cultural partners taking part in regeneration.
• Long-term protection: governance, stewardship and care structures beyond one event, funding cycle or generation.

The Seed of Eternal Forest

In 2025, the project moved from vision into the land. The first intervention, the Seed of Eternal Forest, was created on site: a 35-metre diameter artistic-regenerative intervention that marks the beginning of the sanctuary. The Seed is a starting point from which the wider forest sanctuary will unfold.

This first phase included regenerative design and implementation, as well as a public community event. Through crowdfunding on the PPL platform (https://ppl.pt/en/causas/eternalforest), in-kind contributions and core team contributions, €34,600 was mobilised to bring the first phase into being (including planting with Quercus Feb 2026).

It became a proof of concept for how art, ecology, community and conservation can collaborate to call communities into action.

What This Funding Will Unlock: From Seed to Sanctuary

Support for Eternal Forest in Faia Brava will move the project into the next visible stage of sanctuary creation: detailed design of the 12-hectare site, the first 1.5-hectare implementation area, water retention, planting, community activation and a larger public regeneration event in November 2026. This includes restoration zones, gathering areas, artistic interventions, access paths and the expansion of the sanctuary beyond the Seed.

Water retention is central to this phase. In collaboration with Slow Water, we will design and implement a system that helps the land hold rain, reduce erosion, rehydrate soils and increase planting survival.

Around this area, we will carry out the next planting phase with Faia Brava and Quercus, which has committed 2,500 native trees and plants.

The funding will also make possible a public activation event in November 2026, bringing together restoration, planting, workshops, community participation and cultural programming. This event will invite local people, schools, associations, artists, ecological partners and visitors to take part in the creation of the sanctuary as future guardians.

Support will unlock (at a glance):

• detailed design of the 12-hectare sanctuary
• water retention design and implementation with Slow Water
• planting around the water retention area with 2,500 native trees and plants supplied by Quercus
• collaboration with Faia Brava’s field team for land works, maintenance and ecological continuity
• workshops and public programming around water, soil, biodiversity, art and long-term care
• engagement with local schools, associations, residents and community partners

Timeline

Summer 2026: sanctuary design, partner coordination, site planning, first implementation area prepared.

Summer–early Autumn 2026: Water retention implementation and event preparation

November–December 2026: Planting, workshops and public activation with community

Winter 2027: Monitoring, survival care, documentation, partner follow-up and next phase planning.

How Regeneration Happens Here

Before we intervene, we listen. We walk the land. We observe water, stone, plants, animal movement, wind, access, memory, community knowledge and the existing conservation work already carried out by Faia Brava. This listening becomes the basis for artistic and regenerative design and ongoing storytelling.

The project applies regenerative design at ecosystem scale, focusing on water cycles, soil health, habitat resilience and the long-term capacity of the land to recover. At the same time we support social and cultural regeneration, while connecting communities and visitors to the land through cycles of art, celebrations, workshops and events.

Over time, we establish ongoing art residencies for multidisciplinary and site-based research. The role of artists is to contribute to regeneration: working with materials, species, stories, community, perception and care.

Partnerships and Long-Term Care

Eternal Forest leads the artistic direction, sanctuary concept, cultural methodology, storytelling, community facilitation and overall project development.

Faia Brava provides the land context, ecological stewardship, conservation knowledge, field support and long-term continuity. Fractal Regenerative Technologies and Maurício Ullman support regenerative design https://www.instagram.com/fractal.regenerative/. Slow Water https://slowwater.earth/ supports the water retention system. Quercus https://quercus.pt/ has committed 2,500 native trees and plants for the next planting phase.

The collaboration with the Côa Museum and Côa Park Foundation https://arte-coa.pt/en/foundation/ connects the sanctuary to the cultural and archaeological depth of the region.

Our Role: Activating the Sanctuary

Eternal Forest’s role is to activate, design and hold the wider sanctuary process until it can be carried by the land’s own Circle of Guardians.

We hold the artistic direction, sanctuary methodology, storytelling, communications, community facilitation, project coordination and operational delivery. We weave land stewards, ecological partners, artists, schools, associations, local businesses and residents into one living process.

Eternal Forest acts as an initiator and aligner: bringing the first vision, structure, design, story and momentum, while helping local people and organisations become the long-term stewards of the sanctuary. Over three to five years, the project is designed to be increasingly held by a local and extended Circle of Guardians.

A sanctuary survives when people feel part of it. Eternal Forest rebuilds local relationships with land through artistic experiences, educational activities, volunteer participation, storytelling and long-term stewardship.

The project can support local livelihoods connected to restoration, education, cultural programming, ecological monitoring, hospitality, guiding, materials, technical support, machinery and land works.

Storytelling is part of the work. We document and share the process across Portugal and internationally, so Faia Brava becomes both a living sanctuary and a visible prototype. The model is simple: every community can have its own Eternal Forest. 

Map of current and emerging Eternal Forest locations: https://eternalforest.earth/map/

Tracking Impact

The project will track ecological, cultural and community impact over time.

Ecological monitoring will include restoration milestones, planting zones, species selection, soil and water interventions, habitat development and biodiversity indicators. Project progress is already being mapped through the Restor platform.

Restor: https://restor.eco/sites/0b86b8db-13e9-4a70-bf93-8246fc762b62/?lat=40.941679&lng=-7.0845675&zoom=18

For this next phase, success will include:

• full design developed for the 12-hectare site
• first 1.5-hectare implementation area prepared
• water retention system designed and implemented
• 2,500 native trees and plants supplied and planted
• November 2026 public regeneration event completed
• workshops held with schools, community and partners
• Faia Brava field team and local partners involved in care
• photo, video and written documentation
• project updates recorded on Restor
• first steps toward a local Circle of Guardians established

This first site will become the foundation for a greenprint: a model and toolkit other communities can adapt.

The Seed has already been created and this next phase allows it to grow into a sanctuary.