Blog / Roots to Sky

What is Roots to Sky?

Roots to Sky is a 125 acre sanctuary on Backbone Mountain. It sits at the very top of Western Maryland, between the towns of Oakland, Maryland and Thomas, West Virginia. The land has open fields, old forest, and mineral springs that have fed the property for more than 100 years.

This is Indigenous land. Roots to Sky sits on the ancestral territory of the Shawandassee Tula and Massawomeck peoples. The Cherokee, Iroquois, and Delaware nations used these mountains as travel routes. Today the sanctuary is a place for healing, ceremony, farming, and community. It makes its own maple syrup. It hosts retreats and trainings.

The land is special for another reason. It sits near the headwaters of the Potomac River, the river that flows past Washington, D.C. It borders the Monongahela National Forest. What happens to the forest here affects the water for millions of people downstream.

Why it matters to Earth Guardians' Indigenous Youth Initiative

Roots to Sky is where Earth Guardians holds the Indigenous Youth Initiative, or IYI. Earth Guardians is the organization that funds and runs IYI. The program brings together Indigenous youth, ages 18 to 30, from across Turtle Island and Abya Yala, the Indigenous names for North and South America.

For several days, young people live on the land together. They learn how to lead. They share stories and ceremony. They plan projects to protect their own communities. Travel, food, and lodging are paid for, so money is never the reason someone cannot come.

I serve as a film mentor at Earth Guardians' IYI. I help young people tell their stories on camera. I have watched what this land does for them. You cannot learn to protect the earth from a classroom. You learn it with your feet in the dirt and the forest around you. That is what Roots to Sky gives us.

What is threatening the land

Backbone Mountain has become a target for big energy companies. The projects are called "clean energy." Some of them are built by cutting down forest.

Wind. The Criterion Wind Project put 28 turbines along the top of Backbone Mountain in 2010. Each one is about 415 feet tall. That is taller than a 40 story building. Energy companies have leased more ridge land in the state forests nearby. Years ago, a plan to clear up to 400 acres of state forest for more turbines was stopped only because local people fought it.

Solar. A company called CPV built the largest solar farm in Maryland on Backbone Mountain. It opened in December 2025. The state approved it to clear and timber about 654 acres of trees. The company says the site was an old coal mine. That is true. But hundreds of acres of trees had grown back on it, and they came down. A second phase is already being built.

The law changed. In 2025, Maryland passed a law called the Renewable Energy Certainty Act. It takes away the power of counties to say no to large solar projects. Garrett County used to be able to protect its own forests and farms. Now the state can override that.

Next door. Just across the state line in Tucker County, West Virginia, a company wants to build a gas power plant and a data center on 500 acres near Thomas. That one is not clean energy at all. Local groups are fighting it in court.

Put it all together, and the picture is clear. The forest around Roots to Sky is being cut, piece by piece, for projects that make money for companies far away. The pressure is moving closer every year.

We are not against clean energy

Let me be clear. Climate change is real, and it hurts Indigenous people first. We need clean power. But there is a right way and a wrong way to build it.

The wrong way is to cut down old forest. A forest takes 100 years or more to grow back. Trees hold the soil on the mountain. They keep the springs clean. They hold carbon. When you clear a forest to build "clean" energy, you give back with one hand what you took with the other.

The right way is to build on land that is already cleared. Parking lots. Rooftops. Old mine land that has not grown back. There is plenty of it. The forest should be the last place we look, not the first.

How you can help

1. Follow this blog. I will post updates, petitions, and dates for public hearings here as they come. Join the email list so you do not miss them.
2. Show up. Energy projects in Maryland need approval from the Public Service Commission. Public comments count. When a hearing is posted, I will share how to speak or write in.
3. Support the land. Roots to Sky Sanctuary is run by a small collective. Visit, book a retreat, or give.
4. Support the youth. Earth Guardians funds and runs the Indigenous Youth Initiative. If you are an Indigenous young person in the Mid-Atlantic, apply for the next training.
5. Share this. Most people have never heard of Backbone Mountain. Send this post to one person who should know.

This land holds Earth Guardians' Initiative. Now it is our turn to hold the land.