Use the following as a guide to help you organize the day for a stewardship work session.
Welcome
- Welcome your stewards as they arrive.
- Introduce yourself and point out any other Lead Stewards. Leaders should always wear their name tag.
- Have stewards introduce themselves.
- Ask anyone who needs to leave early to let you know when they leave.
Administration
- (optional) Record attendance. Taking a group photo can be helpful.
- Verify that stewards have been registered through the Stewards Registration Form
- Make sure you are tracking “stewardship effort” (a notebook or clipboard will come in handy!). See the section on Reporting and Monitoring for more instructions.
Land Acknowledgement
Share a land acknowledgement, making the connection that indigenous people are the first stewards of the land. You might prearrange to have one of the stewards do this.
Provide training on the activity
- Show the group the area where you will be working and give a short introduction on the site conditions, plants, animals to watch for, and the main tasks you will be completing that day.
- Give a short talk on safety using the safety guides and checklists. We recommend printing these materials (see Safety).
- Explain what you will be doing that day, provide training, and give a demonstration to the group.
- Give each steward a task to focus on and have them start working.
- Check-in with stewards to ensure they are doing the activity correctly. Tip: Refrain from doing the activity yourself and focus on leading the group. Only join in on the activity once the group is very comfortable with the task at hand.
End of session wrap up
- Ensure you wrap up with enough time to clean the site, clothes and boots (see after care section) and put away all equipment.
- Give a short conclusion with an invitation to return and an overview of the next session. You may want to end the session with a communal reflection on interesting occurrences during the session. Remember to thank your stewards for their work!
- Sign records for volunteer hours when asked, and have the person fill it out for you first.
- Check the site carefully before leaving. Depending on the day’s activities the Lead Steward may need to check that no invasive plants were dropped to spread their seeds, and that every plant was planted properly, if applicable.
Post session administration
After the session is over, take a moment to check your admin activities. It is easier to do it right away than to try to remember the information later! Make sure you fill in the post-session Work Log Form.
You can review your submitted work logs on your site’s tab in the Work Log Responses excel sheet located in the Google Drive. If you need to make a revision – please leave a comment on the cell and the TNS Coordinator will periodically review the changes.