Stew-MAP: Stewardship Mapping & Assessment Project
The Stewardship Mapping & Assessment Project (Stew-MAP) has compiled information on hundreds of local citizen groups that are involved in stewardship actions in their local communities. Groups that have submitted information to a Stew-MAP survey range from informal block associations, kayak clubs, tree-planting groups, and environmental justice coalitions to formal non-profit educational institutions and museums.
A primary goal of the project is to help end users visualize stewardship activities across their urban landscape. Databases and maps depicting local stewardship efforts and connections can provide a range of benefits:
- Environmental stewardship efforts give community members an opportunity to build and contribute to the sustainability and resilience of their local communities; enhancing visibility among and across stewardship groups can advance these efforts.
- Maps and databases can highlight stewardship gaps and overlaps, enhance citizen monitoring projects, promote broader public engagement with on-the-ground environmental work, build effective partnerships among stakeholders involved in urban sustainability, and promote climate change adaptation efforts.
- Stew-MAP can serve natural resource managers, funders, policymakers, civic groups, and members of the public.
Stew-MAP is currently active in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle. The project welcomes people who want to form new teams by gathering information about stewardship groups in their regions.