Advancing equity for careers in stewardship and building the stewardship sector. 

Within California, the need to increase the pace, scale, and quality of landscape-scale stewardship is directly at odds with the state of the stewardship workforce, which is experiencing a shortage of workers with the necessary skillsets.  

Often the public agencies, nonprofits, and private companies that steward land cannot find and retain the employees needed to complete essential projects to maintain and restore ecosystems, prevent catastrophic wildfire, adapt to sea level rise, and more.  

Internal issues that compound this problem include inadequate mentorship and pre-professional pathways, burdensome application processes and requirements, a lack of internal pathways for advancement within organizations, and compensation that is far outpaced by the cost of living in virtually every corner of California. 

These challenges create very real consequences across the state and lead to an inability to effectively steward land.  

Adding to these challenges is the fact that we do not have a full understanding of the many different roles that make up the stewardship field. A partnership between CLSN, Parks California, and the Ecological Workforce Initiative is focusing on describing these. The Careers in Stewardship Wheel (coming later this year) will highlight the vast array of careers needed to undertake effective and lasting stewardship activities.