The Stewardship Mapping Project (STEW-MAP): Missouri

Status

Ongoing

Missouri Outdoor Connections is a U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service initiative to identify organizations that care for the natural resources of Missouri's central and southern regions so they can better work together. This project seeks to answer the question, “Who takes care of Missouri's natural lands & connects people to their benefits?” The effort will culminate with the development of a new, interactive tool which identifies, maps and visualizes relationships of land stewards such as volunteer groups, recreational and trail clubs, civic & environmental organizations, community-based groups, and nonprofits. The project will focus on Missouri's central and southern regions, home of the Mark Twain National Forest and Forest Service’s St. Louis Urban Connections Office. The goal is to look beyond National Forest System lands to bring together a large and diverse group from Joplin to St. Louis. The Missouri Outdoor Connections project will link stewards from rural to urban communities and everywhere in between.

Overview
People
Resources

Why connect Missouri’s outdoor stewards? 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. The Missouri Outdoor Connections Project links these individuals and groups so that they can advance stewardship & equity together, leverage resource capacity, share expertise and make the impossible possible.

Project Goals:

Identify, connect & leverage existing and potential partners by creating opportunities for positive engagement; identifying known and unknown stewardship partners; understanding how partners work in a networked way to share information and leverage human & financial resources; and provide a one stop resource to find others committed to stewardship in a Missouri Outdoor Connections database.
Increase collaboration by building cross boundary networks to solve common challenges and meet shared goals; bridging urban, suburban and rural communities; and bringing together diverse lands, services and organizations.
Connect everyone to nature’s benefits by understanding the extent to which lands are being cared for and why; identifying opportunities to fill stewardship gaps; identifying ways to remove barriers and make green spaces accessible to everyone; and creating a sense of community around stewardship of forests, parks and other natural areas.

To learn more, visit the Mark Twain National Forest Website HERE.