Meadowcreek, Inc.

Gary Valen grew up in rural Iowa where his family operated a small hardware business. He left home to attend college and eventually majored in European History at Simpson College, The University of Iowa and Syracuse University. He spent his early career as a professor of history at Simpson College.

In 1962, Valen found a 7000 year old projectile point in a creek bed a few miles from the Simpson campus. Over the next few years, he passionately explored rock bars and plowed fields and ridge tops for evidence of the ancient people who lived in Iowa. He served as the Newsletter editor for the Iowa Archeological Society and developed a strong ethic to preserve ancient sites in Iowa. His wife, Betsy Lyman, served as the director of the Warren County Conservation Board and was able to preserve some of the archaeological sites in the county.

Valen and Lyman purchased 80 acres of timber and farm fields in 1975 and began an environmental project to plant more trees, restore wildlife habitat and create a pond to help prevent soil erosion. By 1980, the couple purchased the original 1884 farm house that once belonged to their small farm and restored it using the sustainable methods available in the 1980’s including an underground living section designed as a subterranean house and a wind generator.

Also in 1975, Valen moved from the classroom to the Simpson administration as the Dean of Students. He instituted a community living initiative that helped students develop leadership and organizational skills in the residence halls, college activities, volunteer positions and campus government. He also was a co-founder and first president of the Iowa Student Personnel Association, an organization of education professionals that worked to improve student life outside the classroom on campuses in Iowa.

Valen moved to Arkansas in 1984 to become the Dean of Students of Hendrix College. He instituted the community living program at Hendrix and expanded the participation of students in areas such as new student orientation, volunteer efforts, residence hall governance and campus activities. Under Valen’s direction, the Office of Student Development initiated a wellness program that helped students in areas of physical fitness, psychological well-being, healthy nutrition and spiritual growth. As part of the nutrition program, Valen started the first national Campus Food Project that eventually brought more locally-produced food to the campus dining hall.  It was through this program that he first became acquainted with the Meadowcreek Project.

In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, the Hendrix Local Food Project interested an entire generation of students, sustainability advocates and student life professionals. Valen presented the project at a variety of conferences and workshops and eventually helped other campuses start similar projects. In 1993, Valen left the academic world to promote local food systems as well as the growth of sustainable farms that would produce healthy food for savvy consumers. He began his new career as the Vice President for Programs for the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture. One of his charges was to supervise the Meadowcreek Project.

Valen first visited Meadowcreek on a summer trip to become acquainted with his new position at Hendrix College. He met David Orr, one of the founders, and toured the half- constructed Conference Center.  During his Hendrix years he used Meadowcreek for student retreats, volunteer projects and personal enjoyment. He participated in numerous conferences and workshops where he met some of leaders of the growing sustainability movement. It was at such a workshop that someone suggested he use his position as a Dean to serve locally-produced food in the cafeteria.

In 1989, Valen and his wife, Betsy, accompanied a group of Arkansas gifted and talented high school students on a Meadowcreek-sponsored trip to the Soviet Union. Betsy produced a documentary on the trip for the Arkansas public television network and the trip prompted a series of exchanges over the next 5 years between the Soviet Academy of Sciences (after 1991, the Russian Academy of Sciences), Meadowcreek, The Kerr Center and Hendrix College.  Valen’s relationship with Meadowcreek became more formal in 1990 when he joined the Board of Directors and subsequently became its President.

While Meadowcreek had experienced phenomenal growth and infrastructure in the 1980’s, the economic crisis of the early 90’s ended much of its outside funding. The founders David and Will Orr left Meadowcreek in 1990 leaving the future of the Project uncertain.

The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture held title to the Meadowcreek land and buildings in the early 1990’s.  As Meadowcreek began to experience the financial weight of the times, Valen negotiated a merger with the Kerr Center as the only way to keep its programs and to preserve the beautiful valley in an area of the Ozarks that was losing much of its forested area to clear-cutting for paper mills.

Meadowcreek and Valen remained part of the Kerr Center for a year and then separated a year later when it was clear it was financially difficult to manage property in both Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Kerr Center generously provided funding to help Meadowcreek transition to a new non-profit and Valen moved to the valley to assume the role of President.

A new Board of Directors was formed and the operations were incorporated as a new non-profit called Meadowcreek, Inc. The staff attempted a number of projects that would provide a sustainable income beyond seeking grants and donations each year. Educational projects such as Meadowcreek Weeks for high school juniors, horticulture workshops and sustainable farming conferences were successful, but not financially sustainable. By late 1995, it became clear Meadowcreek would require outside help.

In the summer of 1995, Meadowcreek hosted a two-week summer camp for members and staff of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The experience was successful for both Meadowcreek and HSUS and after a series of intense negotiations, Meadowcreek was adopted as one of HSUS’ programs. Valen moved to Washington to become the HSUS Director of Sustainable Agriculture and continued to supervise Meadowcreek.

Under the direction of HSUS, most of Meadowcreek’s timber area was designated a wilderness area under a newly-formed HSUS Wildlife Land Trust. Several of the former staff members stayed on site and formed their own businesses including a free- range chicken operation and a community-supported agriculture program. The HSUS routinely hosted workshops and conferences on site.

Valen’s work with HSUS included promotion of a humane diet program; support for small sustainable farmers with a special emphasis on the treatment of farm animals; an anti-factory farm campaign; and, incorporation of humane animal concerns into the programs of the United Nations. He also toured the country promoting local food systems.

In 2001, Valen left HSUS to become Director of Operations for the Glynwood Center in New York. He helped develop a community agriculture mission for Glynwood and started an organic garden that provided food in the local community. He continued to supervise Meadowcreek under a contract with HSUS.

Valen retired in 2006 and HSUS, now under new management, decided to withdraw from its connection with Meadowcreek. Valen was given the opportunity to turn approximately 400 of its acres and existing buildings into another non-profit. Instead, he formed a new board of directors and restored Meadowcreek, Inc. as a stand-alone nonprofit.

In the fall of 2006, the new board, made up of a majority of local leaders, held its first meeting and began anew with a goal of developing sustainable programs that would benefit Stone County and the central Ozark region. The HSUS Wildlife Land Trust maintained control of approximately 1200 acres of timber land that once belonged to Meadowcreek.

Valen is now retired and lives with his wife, Betsy, their dogs and chickens in the Agricultural Reserve of Montgomery County, Maryland. He continues to serve as the President of the Meadowcreek Board of Directors and recently accepted the Board presidency of the Sugarloaf Citizen’s Association, a group dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Reserve. When asked to sum up his career with Meadowcreek, he shared these thoughts.

“Meadowcreek is a wonderful treasure that preserves the rich beauty and heritage of the Ozark region. While it has been a long struggle to keep the organization afloat, I do appreciate the work and dedication of hundreds of people who have been connected with Meadowcreek in one way or another over thirty years.

Everything in my career is now at play at Meadowcreek. We struggle to build a community similar to my experiences on two college campuses. Our efforts to farm─ using sustainable methods, promotion of local arts, and timber education projects─all remind me of initiatives I have experienced in other places. We continue a long Meadowcreek tradition of concern for energy use and sensitivity to the environment. We even have evidence that the Meadowcreek valley was once the heart of a thriving Native American culture dating back several thousand years.

I would love to see Meadowcreek evolve into a demonstration of environmental and sustainable community living. Perhaps the greatest achievement to date is that we have preserved the valley in an era of clear-cutting and unsustainable development in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the country. Future generations will come to appreciate the Meadowcreek valley and its unique heritage as places like it disappear across the globe. I have wanted that goal for Meadowcreek since the first time I stood in the farm fields looking up at the bluffs and hope to pass that legacy to the next leaders who will sustain what we all have tried to achieve in the valley.”