Fundamentals of Collaboration Resources

On August 10, 2020, the California Landscape Stewardship Network hosted "Conservationists Without Borders: Lessons from (Inter)National Partners", a virtual panel event with partners working regionally, nationally and internationally to connect our work at different scales and share lessons learned from the complex challenges we face in 2020.

As part of the Network’s ongoing Summer Series, the panel was moderated by Sharon Farrell, Network Facilitator and Executive VP of Projects, Stewardship & Science at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Panelists included key practitioners and thought leaders in landscape conservation and stewardship:

• Lisa Brush, Founder and CEO of The Stewardship Network
• Annie Burke, Executive Director of TOGETHER Bay Area
• Jay Chamberlin, Chief of Natural Resources Division at California State Parks
• Jim Levitt, Director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
• Gary Tabor, Founder and President of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation

This document summarizes the key findings from a recently commissioned case study exploring barriers to and strategies for improving capacity for landscape-scale stewardship networks. This summary, prepared by the Steering Committee for the California Landscape Stewardship Network, includes direct excerpts from the case study as well as paraphrased findings.

This document provides examples of how two national reports support or add to the findings of the California Landscape Stewardship Network's Capacity Building for Collaboration case study.

How many times have you heard someone say "we can't fundraise for stewardship?" If that's how we think about stewardship, that's how it will be. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.”

The goal of this Kit is to enable anyone who wants to prioritize, value, and fund the work of taking care of the land to change the narrative about stewardship. To move away from "it can't be funded" to "it is essential that we fund and prioritize it" while staying grounded in our values, impacts, and stories.

"Pennsylvania’s Conservation Landscapes are an innovative framing of the conservation and stewardship of natural resources that contribute to the long-term sustainability of special regions throughout the commonwealth. Through place-based partnerships these landscape-scale initiatives are being widely recognized as models for successful collaboration in Pennsylvania and the nation." 

This chapter from the Department of Interior (DOI) Manual establishes policy and provides guidance to bureaus/offices on implementing landscape-level approaches to resource management. It highlights the need to meaningfully coordinate with diverse stakeholders, consider actions and implications at multiple scales, take integrative and interdisciplinary approaches to landscape management, and improving resilience by working at landscape scales. 

The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest region has placed increasing focus on the stewardship of natural resources in urban settings. Stewardship has been described and defined in diverse ways within a variety of contexts, including the philosophical literature of environmentalism, agency program descriptions, and outreach by sponsoring organizations. Constructing a framework to convey the layered meanings of stewardship will help to focus and guide future research.

A cognitive mapping technique was used to elicit responses to the question “What is environmental stewardship?” Semi structured interviews were conducted with representatives of nine Seattle environmental organizations, a group of practitioners who collectively represent over 100 years of experience in the field.