A friend of mine once taught me something I'll never forget about working in conservation - he told me that our primary job is to meet people wherever they are on the "pathway to stewardship" and help them up the next step of the path.
What is the pathway to stewardship? It is encapsulated very well by the quote from Baba Dioum: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
Stewardship requires incorporating knowledge to plan and act for the long term success, resilience, and health of a place. We can each act as stewards of somewhere as small as our front yard, or as big as our whole planet. Mountain Studies Institute has found ourselves right in the middle - with a vision to use what our communities have learned about caring for the San Juan Mountains to inform stewardship of mountain systems worldwide.
All of us may find ourselves on different steps of the path for any given issue. If you focus in on something you’re passionate about, it makes it easier to reflect on where you are and how far you’ve come. Personally, I am passionate about birds. This passion was sparked in 2008 when I was first introduced to the huge variety of bird species that lived in my area - far more than I ever would have guessed. From there I began learning more - which species breed in the forests nearby and which just migrate through. This led me to care about the specific places these birds need on the different stretches of their journey - the mudflats on the edge of the lake where sandpipers fill up on invertebrates before continuing their migration; the old dead tree that now serves as a home for flickers, chickadees, and the occasional owl; the flowers that bloom at just the right time for hummingbird parents to fill up on nectar to feed their young. These became some of my favorite places, and spending time birding there became a part of my identity. Because I care about these birds and habitats, I am also inspired to care for them. Helping out with trash cleanup along the river. Following the news about avian influenza and making sure my bird feeder isn't contributing to the problem. Donating to causes that support bird conservation.
The biggest leap is always from "care for" to stewardship, especially when an issue feels too big to be within my control. How am I using my love of - and knowledge of - birds to inform actions of stewardship?
It may seem like stewardship is moving from “caring for” to “caring more.” More accurately though, it is an understanding of the interdependence between birds and myself. It’s knowing that damage to bird communities is damage to all communities, including human ones. As the writer and philosopher Charles Eisenstein would say in his book, Climate: A New Story, it’s moving away from a narrative of separation and into one of interbeing. That may sound overly lofty — I mean, what do you actually do to be a steward? Well it’s not caring more for birds but caring beyond the birds themselves. Moving into a sense of stewardship lends itself to curiosity and observation. Pay attention, and birds will tell you where they nest, what they eat, what they need. They will reveal the critical connections that allow for them to flourish. Those are all aspects of the world where humans can intervene, for better and for worse.
A Boreal Owl peeks out from the mossy perch where it was camouflaged near Coalbank Pass. Photo credit: Melissa May
I am slowly working towards the goal to have everything in my yard be food or habitat for birds and the critters they depend on. Not mowing my grass has been my first step to provide shelter for pollinators and other insects in all their stages of development, and my next goal is to replace introduced plant species with native ones. Making sure my windows are not a risk for window strikes. And outside of my own yard (it wasn't long ago I didn't have a yard to manage and know this is a great privilege), I stay involved in community and national organizations that work with land managers on best practices, recommend policies that stretch across many lands, and do the important work of educating others so they can move from Know About, to Learn About, to Care About, to Care For, and eventually to Stewardship.
One of the most important and potent actions we can all take on the path to stewardship is to give those behind us a hand up the path. Individual actions are meaningful, but collectively we are powerful. Rills of rainwater flow together to become trickles, trickles combine to form a stream, streams flow together into the raging torrents that move boulders, carve canyons, and shape whole landscapes on their way to joining something even bigger.
That is why Mountain Studies Institute's mission isn't just to do science and tell people how we think a problem should best be solved. Our mission is to empower communities to work together to solve the problems facing our mountain systems. If it is just us it won't be enough. But if all of us reach out with our passion, our knowledge, and our resilience and lift up those beside us, wherever they are on their path, we can have enough flow to make a difference.
It's risky for MSI to stake our success on the actions and success of others, but this is how true change is made. As we celebrate Earth Day this month, think about what actions you can take to take a step forward on the pathway to stewardship, in a place or issue that is important to you. And then reach out and help someone else take a step forward too.
My friend who first taught me about the pathway to stewardship changed my place on the path permanently. I can only hope these small words inspire the next person to take a step forward as well.
Melissa May
