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Catawba Sustainability Center

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Green fields in the foreground with white farm buildings and two silos beyond surrounded by moutains.

A living laboratory for sustainable land management

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ROANOKE COUNTY

Located in the beautiful Catawba Valley of Virginia, the center's 377-acre farm property is a place of interdisciplinary research and hands-on learning. Through research, teaching, and demonstration of sustainable practices in agriculture, forestry, and land management, our work exemplifies the notion that learning is interdisciplinary and occurs in both the classroom and with hands in the soil. 

Research
Community
Hands-on Learning

Featured programs

A woman works picking greens from a garden with a silo and white farm buildings in the background under a bright blue sky.

Small-Farm Incubator

Young and beginning farmers get access to land, tools and equipment, land preparation, and technical expertise.

Information
Green leaves of ramps peek through leaves of the forest floor.

Forest edible and medicinal plants

Research on Appalachian mountain plants such as ramps, goldenseal, and mushrooms puts forgotten land to use. 

Learn more
A brown Catawba Greenway sign next to a gravel road that leads to mountains in the distance.

Catawba Greenway

The Catawba Greenway provides access to the Appalachian Trail and McAfee Knob.

About the trail