A new toolkit for planning stewardship events

Image: Destination BC and Boomer Jerritt

A trail clean-up. Pulling invasive plants. Planting native species. Running a bioblitz.

There are lots of ways outdoor recreation groups can help care for the places where they recreate. The challenge is often knowing what kind of event makes sense, who needs to be involved and what to think about before people show up with gloves and shovels.

ORCBC’s new Community Stewardship Event Toolkit is meant to help with that.

The toolkit covers five types of stewardship events: clean-ups, habitat restoration, invasive species removal, native species planting and citizen science.

For each, it walks through what the activity involves, what groups should consider before getting started, what equipment may be needed and what to track afterwards. It also includes examples of stewardship work already happening in B.C.

Start with what makes sense locally

Not every group needs to organize a large restoration project. A clean-up may be the right place to start. Another club might be well positioned to support an invasive species project or help with a citizen science initiative. The toolkit is intended to help groups choose something that fits their interests, capacity and local environment.

It also encourages groups to look around before creating something new. Conservation organizations, invasive species councils, First Nations, local governments, researchers and land managers may already be doing stewardship work in your community. Partnering with them can be easier, and more useful, than starting from scratch.

More than the work itself

There is a bit more to a stewardship event than picking a date. Groups may need permission from a land manager, appropriate authorizations, safety planning, communications, equipment and a plan for what happens after the event. The toolkit covers those pieces too.

It also includes guidance on working respectfully with Indigenous communities and encourages groups to look first for opportunities to support stewardship work First Nations are already leading.

For ORCBC, stewardship is closely connected to recreation. Looking after trails, habitats and waterways helps protect the places people use, but stewardship events can also bring in new volunteers, build relationships and connect recreation groups with others working in the same landscape.

If your group has been thinking about doing more stewardship work but isn’t quite sure where to begin, this is a place to start.

The toolkit was developed with support from TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, FortisBC and the BC Parks Licence Plate Program, with research and writing support from Caitlin Lichimo.