LEARN: Observe & Adapt
Stewarding the land is an ongoing process.
- Walk the locations you are stewarding in every season.
- Build a relationship with the land over time to create results aligned with your values and goals.
- Monitor the activities of contractors and workers to ensure their work aligns with your values.
MONITOR, OBSERVE
- Walking the land with an expert, or someone with a different perspective, can be invaluable. What you observe can be added to your land inventory.
- Keep on learning. Attend workshops and webinars, join email lists and neighbor groups. See Resources for Implementing for groups and professionals who can help, and review the Plan section to create your goals and processes. Learn more about the location’s history, the ecological processes now at work, what fire or disease events have taken place or might occur and how different practices can help, and consider the past traditions of Indigenous land gardening.
EVALUATE OUTCOMES
- Are your intended outcomes being realized? Look back at your goals and values and the principles of healthy land.
- If conditions on the land are not what you intended, why not? Who can help reveal what’s going on?
ADJUST PLANS
- How can your approach be revised or fine-tuned? Adapt your plans to take advantage of what you’ve learned.
People learning about snakes, scorpions, and more, as part of the California Naturalist program offered at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Photo credit Kristen Russell.