Sierra Permaculture Design offers permaculture design, consulting, installation, and project management services in the Sierra Nevada foothills region of Northern California.

Paul Racko has been an avid organic gardener for over 15 years and has been studying and applying permaculture for over a decade. Originally from Southern California, he has lived in the Sierra Foothills since 2006.

Paul took his very first permaculture course, Introduction to Permaculture, taught by David White and Akiva and Eric Werbalowsky at the Ojai Foundation back in October of 1999. In June 2007, Paul obtained his Permaculture Design Certificate from the Regenerative Design Institute while studying under Penny Livingston, Geoff Lawton, James Stark, Brock Dolman, and Starhawk. In the autumn of 2007, he founded the Sierra Permaculture Guild ( http://sierrapermaculture.org ), an education and networking venue for those interested in applying Permaculture to their landscapes and local communities. In January 2008, he started his own design firm Sierra Permaculture Design, through which he offers Permaculture consulting, site evaluations, design services and project management.

From 2000 to 2006, he ran a successful video production, post-production, web design/hosting, and media encoding & authoring services firm (NetKontent / Sunset Multimedia) where he pioneered some of the earliest techniques in streaming media and video-based online advertising. To this day, he continues to provide 100% wind-powered web hosting and push-button web publishing applications to his clients via his firm SierraHosts.net.

From 1998 to 2000, Paul served as the Executive Director of Long Beach Organic, a non-profit organization dedicated to converting vacant, urban lots into productive, organic foodsheds. During this same period, he studied Horticulture at Long Beach Community College.

He is the co-founder of The Greenbelt Committee, a community-based organization which preserved 11 acres of abandoned railway from development in the heart of Long Beach, California and converted it into a vibrant, natively-landcaped open space featuring walking trails and animal habitat. In 2000, The Long Beach Greenbelt was designated by President Bill Clinton as a White House Millennium Trail, and later placed into the City of Long Beach’s inventory of protected parks and open spaces. In 1999 he was appointed by 4th District Councilman Delano Roosevelt to serve as district representative on the 2010 Long Beach Strategic Plan Environmental Taskforce.

Mr. Racko holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Video Production from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He enjoys yoga, meditation, alpine skiing, photography, web design, gardening, swimming, camping, hot springs, and traveling with his wife and four children.