Stewardship Industry Night & Roundtables
A group of people gather around a round table for a conversation.
Just eight days after the Park Fire ignited, on a Thursday night in August, NCRLT invited local stewards from multiple organizations to gather and share stories of their stewardship trauma, which is routinely absorbed as “part of the job.” Together, we explored individual points of view to gain perspective as a community in our inaugural, “Industry Night” with our community members.
A local therapist who specifically works with first responders, those “helpers” we all learned about from Mister Rogers Neighborhood, led our group in an educational discussion about what trauma is, how it can feel, and how it shows up to others. We learned that our brains are wired to protect us, and that protection can sometimes involve forming habits we don’t wish to continue and can make us feel vulnerable to judgement.
Movement, including dancing, bicycling, and running, or simply walking at a leisurely pace helps with processing our trauma. But why do stewards experience such trauma?
Stewards are often responsible for managing, restoring, and sometimes interpreting land that belongs to everybody. Whether a parcel is on Federal, state, county, or city-owned land, managing it requires both a workforce with their boots on the ground, and coordinated planning and project management. This work is an honor, and a deep responsibility. There are little thanks when things go right, whereas there can be lots of blame when things don’t go as planned.
Take, for example, a fuels-reduction steward: using knowledge of fire ecology and landscape restoration applications, we prescribe treatments to reduce risks on the landscape. Prescribed fire, mastication (chopping large materials into smaller pieces), and removal are examples of commonly prescribed treatments. Permitting these treatments involve stakeholders’ buy-in and communicating that the benefits outweigh the risks can be a delicate balance.
Few people appreciate smoky air and blocked viewsheds for even one day, despite the science being sound and agreement on the outcome of reduced risk. Strong emotions can rise to the surface and can stall a proposed project. When a project isn’t approved, the risk remains unmitigated, and more damage can occur from an unforeseen event like we’ve seen here in the North State. A steward can be left asking, “why couldn’t I convince them to agree to the preventative treatment?” Feelings of unmet responsibility can elicit a trauma response.
The next day, on a Friday at lunchtime, we gathered once again to review “Remote Monitoring: Conservation applications of technology and how we use them at the Land Trust.” Stewardship Director Hannah Espinosa led us through a detailed presentation of our 2024 monitoring efforts, including showing how remote monitoring during the Park Fire helped us assess impacts in real-time so we could better serve our landowners. The topic was so popular that we stayed an extra 45 minutes to converse about possible applications and partnership ideas.
NCRLT started Stewardship Roundtable programming in 2023 to leverage our collective knowledge, review topics of interest, and engage in peer-to-peer learning. Our first topic was “30 x 30 California – how NCRLT contributes to a global movement conserving 30% of Earth’s land and waters by 2030.” Allworth Financial loaned us their conference room to gather in a “third space” and allow all to be fully present, and those early roundtables were mostly board of directors and land trust staff.
For 2024, we wanted to open the Roundtables up to our larger community, so we partnered with Secret Trail Brewing as our official brewery for 2024, and we reserve their spacious and vibrant “South Bar” for each second Thursday evening of each month, and each second Friday at noon to gather. These events are free; registration is required. Food and beverage are available for purchase.
Our next Stewardship Industry Night is September 12th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm and all who work in stewardship roles in our region are encouraged to join us! Our topic will be Recovery and Restoration. The next day, September 13th, from 12:00pm to 1:30pm is our next Stewardship Roundtable, and the topic is, “Using Drones in Natural Resource Management and Land Conservation,” presented by GIS Specialist Daniel Deem. Register here!
