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Cutting Green Tape is an initiative the California Landscape Stewardship Network has facilitated in partnership with the California Natural Resources Agency to help environmentally beneficial work happen more quickly, simply, and cost-effectively. Learn more about the initiative at: https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/.

This presentation on Cutting Green Tape was part of the 2020 Virtual California Association of Resource Conservation Districts Conference, held on November 12-20, 2020. Speakers included Kellyx Nelson, Executive Director, San Mateo RCD; Jennifer Norris, Deputy Secretary of Biodiversity and Habitat, California Natural Resources Agency; and Erika Lovejoy, Director – Accelerating Restoration, Sustainable Conservation.

This event was the first in a developing series of workshops and trainings focused on building and advancing practitioners’ collaborative leadership skills. It focused on raising awareness around the features of collaborative leadership, including frameworks for working across jurisdictions and sectors, the role of networks, and the importance of interpersonal and technical skills in achieving effective collaboration.

Timeline of the recording:

• Welcome and Intros
• Opening Exercise (7:50)
• Overview and discussion of systems (11:05)
• Overview and discussion of complexity (1:01:30)
• Small group discussion and feedback (1:36:00)
• Overview and discussion of networks (1:48:55)
• Break (2:15:00)
• Overview and discussion of essential skills (2:25:40)
• Wrap-up and conclusion (3:30:30)

On September 28, 2020, the California Landscape Stewardship Network hosted a virtual meet-and-greet with Armando Quintero, newly-appointed Director of California State Parks. The conversation was moderated by Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy's San Francisco Community Programs Manager Yakuta Poonawalla. 

Timeline of the recording:

Welcome and Introductions

Armando Quintero Interview (2:40)

Questions from the Audience (38:45)

Wrap-up and Conclusion (58:13)

California Landscape Stewardship Network participants gathered online to share updates and highlights from their regional work on July 27, 2020. 

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

A companion letter to the Resources Legacy Fund's policy recommendations to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Wildfire. Drought. Flooding. Species extinction. Climate change. California faces grave threats that require bold, immediate action. An essential part of any solution is to restore and proactively manage California’s lands and natural resources at a scale and pace sufficient to result in meaningful benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to help catalyze new conversations and strategies to reduce persistent barriers to environmental stewardship, conservation and restoration of California’s lands that are unintended consequences of essential environmental regulations. It summarizes and assesses key advances in addressing these barriers—including legislative and policy approaches as well as approaches based on coordination, collaboration, and trust building—and includes recommended next steps.

This white paper includes a problem statement, key findings (p. 3), assessment of recent efforts (p.3), models outside the field of conservation (p.17), and conclusions and recommended next steps (p.19).

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.

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.