The Stewardship Practices Project
The Stewardship Centre for BC actively works with partners to demonstrate science-based and community-supported guidelines for Stewardship Practices. Our aim is to encourage private landowners, industry, local governments and stewardship organizations to voluntarily address threats to wildlife and species at risk.
About the project
Case Study Methodology
Researchers
Sponsors and Partners
About the Project
This Stewardship Practices for Species at Risk project has four primary aims.
- foster partnerships between local government, agricultural producers, and ENGOs who have a long term stake in stewarding the local land base;
- develop stewardship community champions;
- address science gaps related to the effectiveness of the different riparian area and agricultural waterways stewardship practices; and
- encourage people to take voluntary stewardship actions to safeguard the natural areas of species at risk need to live.
The project builds upon past work and projects including SCBC’s Species at Risk Primer and our Stewardship Practices Guides for Species at Risk.
Case Study Methodology
To develop our case studies, we work with a variety of partners and collaborators throughout BC. Based on partner recommendations, we look for sites with diverse examples of stewardship practices, habitat types, and species at risk.
After selecting and contacting the site’s landowners, a one-hour semi-structured interview and tour is completed for each site.
The data collection form allows for the gathering of systematic information about the implemented stewardship practices and some of the outcomes of these practices. The interview is also designed to capture why landowners adopted stewardship practices (motivations), what problems they had with implementation (challenges), and what were impacts of the adopted practices (outcomes).
Landowners frequently elaborate deeper philosophical thoughts and political opinions on several other issues related to sustainability, economics, policies and regulations. Our goal is to obtain their narratives showing how applying stewardship practices can be beneficial for their community, agriculture and the industry.
Researchers
The Stewardship Centre for BC would like to acknowledge the excellent work of Bernardo Dourado Ranieri (M.Sc.), Mollie Chapman (Ph.D.), and Adrian Semmelink (M.Sc.) who have all contributed to the project.
All three researchers completed their degrees at the University of British Columbia. Mollie and Adrian both completed their graduate studies at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. Bernardo is a fellow Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering.
Project Analysis Report
Our final report from four years of the Stewardship Practices project is now available.
The analysis includes:
- a summary of documented stewardship practices,
- a list of documented species at risk,
- a qualitative report on land managers’ perceived motivations, challenges, and outcomes when participating in stewardship programs or activities, and
- key recommendations to move forward with collaborative stewardship.
Adrian has written the “Implementing Stewardship Practices that Benefit Species at Risk: Perspectives from the Land” report that has been widely acknowledged and used for protecting endangered wildlife while caring for riparian habitats in agricultural areas. Stewardship Centre for BC was saddened to hear about Adrian’s passing. Adrian will be missed by our members and will be remembered for his incredible enthusiasm, professionalism, contribution to our projects and aspiration for making a difference for better and healthier natural environments. To honour Adrian Semmelink and in recognition of his dedication to sustainable agriculture practices, family and friends will be establishing an award in his name. The award will support students pursuing their Master’s or PhD in UBC’s Resources, Environment and Sustainability (RES) program with preference given to those whose studies focus on sustainable agriculture. You can make your donation here: http://support.ubc.ca/adrian-semmelink.
Sponsors and Partners
We offer sincere thanks to the numerous individuals and organizations who are involved in and contribute to the Species at Risk Stewardship Practices Demonstration project. Their donations, support, guidance and information have been indispensable to the ongoing work of the Stewardship Centre.
Funding Partners
We wish to recognize the following partner organizations for contributing funding to Species at Risk Stewardship Practices Demonstration Project:
Additional Project partners
We also thank our project partners including:
- the South Coast Conservation Program,
- Fraser Valley Conservancy,
- Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition,
- The Nature Trust of BC,
- A Rocha Canada,
- Environmental Farm Plan Advisors (Okanagan), and
- Environmental Services Initiative.
Finally, this project would not be possible without the support of all the landowners we profiled. Thank you all for welcoming us onto your property and sharing your inspiring stories of stewardship.