A Landscape of Regeneration
NBW was commissioned to develop a Comprehensive Landscape Plan for Circle Bar Ranch, a 2,800-acre family-owned property in Foxworth, Mississippi, situated between New Orleans and Jackson. The plan was developed in collaboration with the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University, and positions the ranch simultaneously as an ecological restoration site, a working agricultural landscape, and an emerging regional center for education and community life.
The plan is grounded in deep research into the site's layered ecological and cultural histories — from Indigenous lifeways and longleaf pine savannahs to the legacies of sharecropping and generations of agricultural production. These histories shape a framework integrating land management, ecological restoration, and community partnerships. Central to the plan is the reintroduction of silvopasture through heritage Pineywoods cattle and the restoration of longleaf pine savannahs, pairing ecological recovery with agricultural productivity as a model for resilient land stewardship.
The plan also establishes Camp Blazing Star, a new youth camp designed to bring together rural and urban communities through shared, hands-on experience of farm and forest systems. Rooted in the ecology and cultural history of the region, the camp creates a platform for education, research, and leadership development. Through listening, research, and sustained collaboration, Circle Bar Ranch takes shape as a living landscape — one that acknowledges complex histories while cultivating future stewards and fostering enduring connections between people, land, and community.
