Shared Stewardship
Missouri Outdoor Connections - Using Stewardship Mapping to Connect Partners
The Forest Service is excited to work with organizations that care for the lands and environment in Missouri to increase stewardship across landscapes and get more people out enjoying nature. Whether that’s on the Mark Twain National Forest, a city or state park, or in their own backyard. We are working to accomplish this by mapping and connecting the many different groups and natural resource stewards who care for Missouri’s natural areas, from rural to urban communities and everywhere in between.
Let's Get Connected!
More than 170 organizations have joined the map!
You can too! We’re happy to share that the USDA Forest Service’s Missouri Outdoor Connections dashboard is ready for you to use.
Let's get outdoors and let's make a difference together! By developing the Missouri Outdoor Connections, the Forest Service is looking beyond National Forest System lands to bring together the people and organizations that care for the natural resources of Missouri.
What Did We Find?
Across the State of Missouri, Communities are Working Hard to Care for their Public Lands
Groups work across the State of Missouri, spanning rural to urban environments, from the Mark Twain National Forest to the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. Stewardship work occurs across public and private lands. Organizations in metropolitan areas support city parks and gardens, land trusts and forest patches while rural groups are engaged in work within stream valleys and large forested areas. Although the type of public space may differ in size and features, the act of stewardship is abiding across the state of Missouri.
Collaboration is Key to Success
Groups do not work alone while participating in this important work of taking care of Missouri’s natural resources and people. They connect in networks that span across the urban-to-rural gradient. The USDA Forest Service and Missouri Department of Conservation act as key brokers, with strong non-profit partnerships across the state. Groups with a large service footprint, like Ozark Vitality and Missouri River Relief Inc., also have important roles as connectors, working with other partners across Missouri.
Outdoor Recreation in Missouri Inspires Stewardship and Care
Most groups are primarily involved in management (26% of all organizations), education (22%) and conservation (15%) with most activities focused on the environment. On top of those efforts, many groups are supporting nature recreation opportunities. These groups include urban parks and recreation programs, as well as hunter and angler groups, trail associations, and backcountry horsemen groups in rural areas.
Groups stewarding Missouri aim to engage with members of the public through efforts to:
- Create new programmatic opportunities or events,
- Restore habitats including forests, prairies, and watersheds,
- Clean-up and beautify lands and waters, as well as
- Maintain and manage parks, gardens, and other urban and rural natural areas.
Stewardship Groups Serve All Residents of Missouri
Groups have expressed a clear desire to serve and welcome all people in stewarding across Missouri. Groups have set outreach and programming goals to ensure all are able to join, participate in, and benefit from their efforts. Additionally, groups have stated that they want to grow their capacity to internally reflect the communities they serve, to steward Missouri lands and waters.
Learn more by exploring the Missouri Outdoor Connections dashboard.
Building partnership networks
Connecting Missouri’s outdoor groups and land stewards will have multiple benefits.
- It will identify, connect, and leverage existing and potential partners.
- It will increase collaboration across boundaries – from the city to the forest.
- It will help us understand the extent to which lands are being cared for and why.
Common questions
Why connect Missouri’s outdoor groups?
Land stewardship has increasingly become more collaborative and participatory. Across the country, people are working to create stronger, healthier, greener, and more resilient communities by caring for forests, parks, and other natural lands. Linking these individuals and groups allows us to advance stewardship together, leverage resource capacity, share expertise, and make the impossible possible.
Will survey results be made public?
Yes, the network visualization tools is publicly available online.
What is the goal of this effort?
To look beyond National Forest System lands to bring together a large and diverse group from Joplin to St. Louis. This group, Missouri Outdoor Connections will link stewards from rural to urban communities and everywhere in between.
What is STEW-MAP?
The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) is a research tool, community organizing approach, and partnership mapping platform developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Stewardship data collected through STEW-MAP tells us about the presence, capacity, spatial distribution, and social networks of stewardship groups in each city or region. STEW-MAP provides insights that can foster civic participation, increase social cohesion, and support requests for funding and programming.