February 7, 2006

We've received many helpful comments on the materials -- thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. We will be fixing a few typos over the next week.

As always, we appreciate your help to improve these materials, including any state-specific considerations. Please fell free to contact us at info@sharingstewardship.org.

January 20, 2006

SharingStewardship.org is live. Welcome!

Thank you for visiting Sharing Stewardship. More detailed information on the program’s purpose and background can be found here, but I’d like to take this opportunity to share some general thoughts on why we created this site.

We all know stewardship isn’t easy. It requires a considerable investment of time, money, people (staff or volunteers) and energy. It’s difficult to consistently keep track of files and activities. It’s costly and hard to raise funding for. In short, it represents the greatest challenge faced by every land conservation organization. But the commitment has been made, so let’s not lament the task.

When the Pennsylvania Environmental Council started the Riparian Land Partnership in 1999, we strove to help advance locally-driven, and most often unpaid, conservation efforts. The work has been rewarding, but it has also raised the caution that with each success those same volunteers and community stewards must answer to an equally growing responsibility. So, with the help of a few terrific consultants we began to develop a series of materials that could be used to measure stewardship activities objectively. Initially our plan was to create a stand-alone entity that would use these materials as a service to land trusts, not unlike the financial audit process that larger nonprofit organizations engage in each year. But it quickly became apparent that the need was so geographically broad, and the necessary process so intensive, that we could not establish an efficient or affordable means (especially for smaller organizations) to implement the program.

But then we considered the success of innovative and open Web-based efforts like Mozilla and Creative Commons – encouraging the sharing (and improvement) of information, and letting the rising tide lift all boats. This struck us as a sound approach that fits nicely with the principles of the conservation community. So, after a redesign of the program materials, the crafting of this Web site, and a small leap of faith, here we are.

Now for the obvious question: Is this intended as an alternative to the Land Trust Alliance’s Standards & Practices, or their pending Accreditation Program? Absolutely not. Sharing Stewardship is a resource to help your organization on its way toward meeting good organizational and stewardship practices, like those in the Standards & Practices; we simply encourage you to use our tools as you see fit, and we ask for your help to make it better.

If you have any questions, or suggestions for improvement to the materials and Web site, please contact us. We also encourage you to participate in the Discussion Board to help share your knowledge and experiences with others in the conservation community. The more we help each other, the closer we are to meeting our common goal of building lasting stewardship.

Thank you & good luck!

John Walliser