Our Work

Contour Lines’ founder, Sean Dixon-Sullivan, named the nonprofit after one soil conservation method, one he has been using in the steep, high-rainfall tropics of Guatemala with much success.  Contour Lines are rows of trees planted level along a hill’s contour. They intersect rainwater runoff, trap eroding soil, and build terraces of fertility over time. <See What are Contour Lines?>

Work, not words.

Our greater goal is a symbiotic mindset, one that unites human with nature, farms with forests, the economic with the ecological, one that understands and practices reforestation and regenerative agriculture. 

Contour lines are one of many techniques, but by choosing a base method and implementing it, we adpot a hands-on, project-oriented approach. Locals are quickly trained and involved in projects. Results are measurable, literally, in feet. Upon the first visit to a new village, we meet the community and introduce the agreement. On the second, we build an A-level and start marking contour lines. Then after a quick supervision of the required soil conservation methods, we deliver the fruit trees and we plant.

But more than one technique….

From a design perspective, Contour Lines form the backbone of regenerative landscape. Whether planted as tree rows, built as debris walls, or dug as swales or access roads, they precede and help inform later design elements, such as garden plots or fence lines. A landscape woven with the curves of contour will inspire continuing regenerative management.  In this sense, Contour Lines are the vanguard of a regenerative society.

It begins with one technique: planting on contour. Then as participants become immersed in this land transition, as their trees produce fruit and their Contour Lines accumulate soil, as their chemical, slash-and-burn monocultures become perennial, biodiverse food forests, they learn the full spectrum of regenerative techniques—cover cropping, planting polycultures, rotational grazing, organic spraying, pruning, value-adding and marketing products. But by starting with one method, Contour Lines, we start working and we start now. <See Our Work>

And this strategy has achieved results….

In the eastern region of Izabal, Guatemala Contour Lines has:

• funded and planted 13,168 projects across 374 villages,
• planted 2.2 million trees, trees, including 55 different species of fruit trees, where only corn monocultures grew before,
• trained over 25k locals in Contour Lines methods, including 65 who are now experienced trainers themselves,
• begun developing business models to value-add the harvests, to bring income and nutrition to these communities,
• reduced the costs of our Food Forest Projects by 70%, from $671 per acre to $184 per acre,
• expanded our support based to include over 235 individual donors, and partners such as One Tree Planted, Ecosystem Restoration Camps, Abundant Earth Foundation, and iGiveTrees.

Now, heading into our eighth and largest planting season (July 2023) we focus on the sustainability of these projects. Our value-adding and marketing pilots have proven successful and ready to replicate in these communities, while our team of locals—formerly project benefactors, now trained as teachers and organizers—expands these projects into more communities while forming their own legal association to continue this work beyond Contour Lines.

Furthermore, we’ve expanded our models into nine new regions of Guatemala—Barrios, Peten, El Estor, the Verapazes, Lake Atitlan, Huehuetenango, the Dry corridor and Antigua—while accepting applications from potential project partners interested in applying our models throughout Central America and beyond..

Join the regenerative transition…

Contour Lines invites like-minded folks to support this regenerative transition by clicking the donate button below….

Or come visit us at our new Center in Antigua, book a tour or class, enjoy farm-to-table meals and purchase regenerative products… all of which support the 13k+ families transitioning their land from slash-and-burn to regenerative food forests.