Community Stewardship Alliance Volunteer Events

This November will see the introduction of an exciting new program for the benefit of our St. Louis County Parks.  Through a collaborative partnership led by the Open Space Council, the Community Stewardship Alliance (CSA) is intended to provide focused, trained, volunteer leadership to restore and maintain the natural areas within our county parks.

The goals of the program are to:

• Restore, protect and actively manage vulnerable natural areas to maintain and enhance the St. Louis region’s biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by our public lands;
• Foster regional partnerships between public land managers, community members and local organizations to align restoration efforts across priority natural areas;
• Adapt successful local and national stewardship models to develop a coordinated program for the St. Louis region to achieve standardization of restoration techniques, management plans, reporting, monitoring and communication;
• Empower community members to become leaders invested in their local parks.

We are looking for committed individuals to step up and become Site Ambassadors, a cohort of dedicated volunteers that will coordinate with the CSA partners to adopt a site, plan and coordinate volunteer restoration activities in targeted parks.  This is your opportunity to be a primary point of contact between the County, CSA partners and community volunteers. A more detailed description of what it means to become a Site Ambassador can be found here.

**Due to the new “Safer at Home” ordered issued by St. Louis County in effect November 17, volunteer events have been cancelled.** We invite you to attend our virtual “Lunch & Learn” session about becoming a CSA Site Ambassador on Friday January 8, 2021 from 11:30am – 1pm. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for a link to registration.

This is your opportunity to take a leadership role in restoring and maintaining some of the most prized natural areas within the St. Louis region.  As a Site Ambassador, you will have the opportunity to help plan restoration efforts, recruit volunteers, and coordinate those activities. We invite you to attend one or more of the workdays if you are interested in joining the initial cohort of Site Ambassadors or want to learn more about the CSA.  If you have any questions, please contact me at caitlin@openspacestl.org.

Special thanks to CSA Partners:  Forest ReLeaf, Great Rivers Greenway District, Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Master Naturalists Great Rivers Chapter, the Robert J. Trulaske, Jr. Family Foundation, St. Louis Audubon Society, St. Louis County Parks, St. Louis County Parks Foundation and Open Space Council members for their support!