What is Urban Environmental Stewardship? Working Toward a Practitioner-Derived Definition in Seattle

While “stewardship” is often used to describe environmental improvement efforts, it is difficult to find an agreed upon definition of the term. Current research examines stewardship programs, activities, networks, and outcomes. A comprehensive definition should take into account the perspectives of all stakeholders. Practitioners and project managers have particularly direct experiences of stewardship, however little has been done to determine how they define the term and its implementation. Establishing a shared concept of stewardship is essential to further research, and the intent of this preliminary study is to begin to develop a definition. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of nine Seattle environmental organizations, who collectively have over 100 years of experience in the field. Conceptual Content Cognitive Mapping (3CM) was used to elicit responses to the question “what is environmental stewardship?” The 3CM method encourages participants to reveal and explore their cognitions and perceptions about an idea or activity. Responses are open-ended, rather than constrained by finite lists of questions or variables. Analysis of 3CM responses generates thematic, structural representations of shared concepts and their interactions across study participants. Results show that these practitioners have a multi-layered definition of stewardship, from environmental improvement to community building, from actions to outcomes. This array of perceptions is displayed in their organizational activities, and as further research may show, in organizational networks and outcomes. This initial work builds upon ongoing stewardship mapping research in New York City, and is part of a larger project comparing stewardship networks in Seattle and Baltimore. Through continued study in these and other cities, this work can be expanded and replicated to create a framework for urban environmental stewardship research

Civic Environmental Stewardship: Aligning Organizational and Participant Motivations

Natural area management and sustainability in cities is ever more reliant on civic environmental stewardship. Many conservation organizations sponsor stewardship programs that enlist volunteers to care for the land and restore urban ecosystems. Stewardship program success depends on alignment of individuals’ and sponsoring organizations’ goals. We conducted surveys with a sample of 165 volunteers across natural areas stewardship events in metropolitan King County (Washington, U.S.). An adapted Volunteer Functions Inventory framework was used to understand volunteers’ motivations, satisfactions, and volunteering history. Our findings confirmed the multidimensional dynamics of volunteerism, as stewardship volunteers were motivated and expressed satisfaction for practical altruism, social interactions, experiential learning and a sense of positive impact. High frequency volunteers expressed higher values across all satisfactions outcomes. People who participated in stewardship events closer to home indicated higher event-related social esteem and personal efficacy. Overall, volunteers were generally of greater education attainment, more affluent, and culturally identified as white at a higher rate than the region’s populace, suggesting the need for program innovations to improve stewardship participation diversity. Findings that differ from more general volunteer studies indicate volunteers’ concerns for other people and the environment, in the near term and as legacy for the future. Stewardship organizations’ programs are guided by goals and values. A systematic approach to knowledge building about volunteer motivations can inform more successful volunteer engagement, such as recruitment and retention

Beyond Tree Planting in Urban Forest Climate Adaptation Actions

Forests in cities, and the communities that steward and benefit from them, face significant disruption due to climate change. It is now time to build the capacity in our institutions and in forested natural areas to help navigate multiple overlapping crises and systems change. This case study from Seattle, Washington provides perspective on how to mitigate climate change beyond tree planting

Climate Change Vulnerability and Response in Seattle’s Urban Natural Areas

Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) was originally conceptualized as a 20-year program to drive recovery of the city’s forested natural areas. Now in year fourteen of the restoration effort, Seattle Parks and Recreation, the lead agency for GSP, is undertaking an analysis of current ecological conditions using on-the-ground and remotely sensed data to better understand climate change exposures. This work helps build the program’s long-range perspective while offering immediate strategies to help the natural areas adapt to existing and anticipated environmental change

Green Seattle Partnership Models Regional Urban Natural Areas Restoration Efforts

The Green Seattle Partnership (GSP) was launched in 2005 to create a model for urban forest natural area restoration in the Puget Sound region of western Washington. To date, thirteen other municipalities and one county have adopted the Green City Partnership model to utilize a 20-year strategic planning process to prioritize and guide natural area restoration programing. Initial planning work includes taking stock of the community and ecological resources and defining costs. Not all prioritization and planning efforts live in the strategic plan. During the fourteen years since the launch of the GSP, annual planning efforts have been responsive to broader city and community priorities, as well as to current conditions captured in work records and monitoring data

Heavy metals in moss guide environmental justice investigation: A case study using community science in Seattle, WA, USA

Heavy metal concentrations often vary at small spatial scales not captured by air monitoring networks, with implications for environmental justice in industrial-adjacent communities. Pollutants measured in moss tissues are commonly used as a screening tool to guide use of more expensive resources, like air monitors. Such studies, however, rarely address environmental justice issues or involve the residents and other decision makers expected to utilize results. Here, we piloted a community science approach, engaging over 55 people from nine institutions, to map heavy metals using moss in two industrial-adjacent neighborhoods. This area, long known for disproportionately poor air quality, health outcomes, and racial inequities, has only one monitor for heavy metals. Thus, an initial understanding of spatial patterns is critical for gauging whether, where, and how to invest further resources toward investigating heavy metals. Local youth-led sampling of the moss Orthotrichum lyellii from trees across a 250 × 250 m sampling grid (n = 79) and generated data comparable to expert-collected samples (n = 19). We mapped 21 chemical elements measured in moss, including 6 toxic “priority” metals: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, and nickel. Compared to other urban O. lyellii studies, local moss had substantially higher priority metals, especially arsenic and chromium, encouraging community members to investigate further. Potential hotspots of priority metals varied somewhat but tended to peak near the central industrial core where many possible emission sources, including legacy contamination and converge. Informed by these findings, community members successfully advocated regulators for a second study phase—a community-directed air monitoring campaign to evaluate residents\u27 exposure to heavy metals—as is needed to connect moss results back to the partnership\u27s core goal of understanding drivers of health disparities. This follow-up campaign will measure metals in the PM10 fraction owing to clues in the current study that airborne soil and dust may be locally important carriers of priority metals. Future work will address how our approach combining bioindicators and community science ultimately affects success addressing longstanding environmental justice concerns. For now, we illustrate the potential to co-create new knowledge, to help catalyze and strategize next steps, in a complex air quality investigation

Using Focus Groups and Interviews to Inform the Design of a Workplace Exercise Programme: An Example From a High-Intensity Interval Training Intervention

Objective: Using a formative evaluation of a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention, we illustrate how qualitative data can inform the development of workplace exercise interventions.Method: Eight focus groups and four interviews were conducted with employees (n = 38) and management (n = 4) from six office-based organisations before intervention implementation.Results: Some participants thought workplace-based HIIT would be practical, given the limited time required. Others perceived it may not be acceptable for all individuals, given the exercise intensity. With consideration of identified barriers (workload /family commitments effecting time availability) and facilitators (flexible working conditions) participants’ perspectives were incorporated into the intervention protocol. A short-term group-based intervention was preferred, with a choice of exercise modes (based on stair climbing, stepping or boxing).Conclusion: This study provides a framework to incorporate stakeholders’ perspectives into the development of workplace exercise interventions