Restoring Nature's Services - Community Stewardship

North East Trees assists communities and neighborhoods in the development of resources, capacity and network links that can steward restored nature’s services in resource challenged communities.  Restoring nature’s services is about improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods.  The North East Trees experience has shown that without engaging the community to care for or steward the landscape improvements that are designed and installed in their neighborhoods, these improvements will deteriorate and not provide the quality of life benefits envisioned by the project.  The purpose of the Community Stewardship Program is to help interested residents and business owners to take action to initiate, develop and maintain such improvements. 

North East Trees has been conducting weekend workshops and continues to develop curriculum for the Community Stewardship Program with funding from local business, government grants, foundations and philanthropists.  Trained Community Stewards volunteer their time to educate and train local youth and adults in disciplines and skills related to adaptive management of stream-wetland environments and other restored natural habitats.  Stewards are taught the scientific principles of environmentalism, as well as the importance of advocacy, organizing, and community empowerment.  They are trained to apply this education towards organizing their own adaptive management programs and projects.  This includes training in resource development.

The Community Stewardship Program is also intended as another level of education and training for graduates of our Youth Environmental Stewardship (YES) Program – “Our Youth Environmental Stewards of Today Are our Community Stewards of Tomorrow”.  The Youth Stewards attend science environmental fairs and are spokespersons for stream, wetland and other habitat restoration projects.  Youth Stewards attend public workshops, submit surveys, and canvass door to door, and assist in the outreach to residents about such initiatives.

Overall, we target volunteers of all ages who are willing to donate 80 hours of their time, to become Community Stewards.  Our goal is to create new Community Stewards mobilized to advocate for funding/resources for stream-wetland restoration, and who will be “positive agents of transformation” through adaptive management to sustain the developed restoration improvement.