What is the Cascadia Flag Legal Defense Fund (LDF)?

The Cascadia Flag Legal Defense Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit program of the Department of Bioregion, in partnership with Alexander Baretich and the Cascadian Flag Cooperative, Inc. to protect the Cascadia flag as a bioregional symbol, and ensure that any use is in line with the bioregional principles and Cascadian movement that it stands for.

Our primary focuses are:

  • Making sure that the Cascadia flag meets certain ethical, environmental and sustainable principles when in commercial use, and that it is not co-opted or pirated by organizations, groups or individuals not representing the values of the Cascadian Bioregional Flag.
  • Making sure that Alexander Baretich, the designer of the Cascadia Bioregional Flag, and his company the Cascadian Flag Cooperative, Inc receive appropriate compensation for commercial use of the flag.
  • Providing high quality digital assets for approved vendors.
  • Managing a directory of approved vendors.
  • Providing legal protections for people using the Cascadia flag and within the Cascadian movement.

Creating a Bioregional IP Commons

Our bioregional legal defense fund safeguards assets and resources for not only a bioregional area, but also for a bioregional movement. Since governments and corporations were not created to manage or steward resources in a fair, equitable and open manner, it is our job to safely steward bioregional resources, according to our principles and values, in a way that protects them within a capitalistic and exploitative world. We make sure they are not appropriated, misused or harmed, while stewarding them and keeping them available to use for the members of those communities and movements.

What is generally missing is the input of the people who use these commons. They have the unique expertise, cultural understanding and long-term incentives for effective resource supervision. This is why local and regional participation in the care and allocation of transboundary commons is now becoming a crucial factor in decisions on the governance.

The purpose of a bioregional trust is to safeguard a resource for future generations. Just as some communities across the world have become adept at preserving, creating and replenishing their local commons, bioregional commons can also apply the principles of subsidiarity, polycentricity and inclusive decision-making to the protection and production of resources that are shared on a broader scale. In addition, a bioregional trust may generate funds which could be used for ecological restoration as well as a basic income for the people of a region.