Collaborative Stewardship in Action Across the Bay Area

This spring and summer, I represented Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) at three meetings across the Bay Area and California to learn from and contribute to regional conservation efforts. Each organization has its unique mission, but they all are evolving toward a similar understanding that Jasper Ridge is embracing: conservation and protection of ecosystem biodiversity and functions requires integrating science and stewardship while building partnerships across diverse communities.

Possibly all using the word stewardship to describe this evolution. The common thread across these gatherings was how organizations are breaking down traditional barriers between research, management, and community engagement to build something stronger together. 

2026 TOGETHER Bay Area Conference

In May 2026, TOGETHER Bay Area (launched in 1990) brought hundreds of people to Fort Mason's Gateway Pavilion under the theme of "Navigating Pace, Scale, and Durability." This was my first time attending and it was possible thanks to the new partnership between TOGETHER Bay Area and the Golden Gate Biosphere Network (founded in 1988, Jasper Ridge is a member). I was able to invite Jasper Ridge staff members Adriana Hernandez and Trevor Hebert. The coalition's overarching goal is to conserve and steward 50% of all Bay Area lands by 2050. There is so much work ahead with many collaborators to update the Conservation Lands Network 3.0. The program will include evaluating how stewardship, fire resilience, and biodiversity impact Bay Area lands.

Led by Executive Director Annie Burke, TBA's main goal was very obvious and they know how to do it very well. I was connecting and strengthening partnerships in real time. TOGETHER Bay Area designed this day to break down walls between researchers, managers, and communities. I got to meet many people I have only read about or heard about through their work. I also had many informal lunches and conversations with people I am usually only in committees or work meetings with, and our conversations were not dictated by the agenda but focused on sharing surprises at work, our new challenges, or just the new wildflower that is popping up in our grasslands.

During the opening plenary, conference organizers highlighted the new partnership of the Golden Gate Biosphere Network with TOGETHER Bay Area and emphasized how we will continue to provide scientific knowledge and networking capacity to support the broader TOGETHER Bay Area community. The conference showed that when we bring diverse voices together, from policy experts to field practitioners to Native Peoples, we create something greater than the sum of our individual efforts. 

I was also very pleased to see that many of the plenary speakers and presenters were members of multiple Tribes and Pueblos sharing their leadership in conservation work. TOGETHER Bay Area works with multiple Tribes across the region. To learn more about TOGETHER Bay Area's regional collaboration work and Tribal partnerships, visit togetherbayarea.org.

Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network 2026 Summer Convening 

The June 2026 Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network (SCMSN) convening (founded in 2014) was held at a neighboring area to Jasper Ridge, the Djerassi Artist Residency Program, founded in 1979. Since its inception, the SCMSN has brought together more than 25 organizations, bridging the conservation and practitioner communities. Maybe this is where they came up with stewardship as part of their name more than 10 years ago. 

Dylan Skybrook, the executive director of the SCMSN, highlighted the success of spotlight tours designed to bring elected officials closer to the work happening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. These tours show what stewardship means from multiple perspectives and with multiple benefits to many communities. Dylan likes to say, "show them what stewardship in action looks like." Please visit their website and let your elected officials know about these opportunities.

We celebrated the success of the 2026 Science and Stewardship Symposium and are now planning for the next one in 2028. Members recently published research on how human activity impacts pumas and how pumas impact ecosystems (Morgan et al 2026, Bello Carvalho et al 2026, and Sonowane et al 2026). We also discussed building meaningful partnerships with Tribes. I shared how Jasper Ridge's collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and North Fork Mono Tribe led to a published research study using a two-eyed seeing framework during a cultural burn (Golde et al 2026). These examples demonstrate how Jasper Ridge serves as a living laboratory where scientific research and Indigenous knowledge can inform each other, advancing both our understanding of ecosystems and our approaches to stewardship. 

The SCMSN shared a similar need to Jasper Ridge's own priorities, the need to continue research and ongoing monitoring of grassland ecosystems and create new initiatives for their protection, conservation, and restoration. California's unique grassland ecosystems face challenges in our region, from invasive species pressure to changing climate conditions. The network emphasized collaborative approaches to grassland restoration that incorporate both scientific monitoring and adaptive management practices. An example from Jasper Ridge includes a new research and restoration project in the serpentine grassland. Discussions on invasive species management highlighted the importance of early detection, coordinated response strategies across areas, and understanding how climate change may shift the competitive dynamics between native and non-native species.

Many of the members of the SCMSN also work with the Amah Mutsun Land Trust and Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, building partnerships that honor Indigenous knowledge and stewardship practices in the Santa Cruz mountain ecosystems and communities. The Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT), an initiative of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, is a member of the SCMSN. In 2025, AMLT acquired a 50 acre property near San Juan Bautista, marking the first time the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band regained full access rights to land in its traditional territory since their forced removal more than 225 years ago. In January 2026, Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), another SCMSN member, purchased and permanently protected 2,284 acres of Sargent Ranch, bringing their total ownership to more than 6,100 conserved acres of the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape. To explore more about their collaborative work, visit scmsn.net.

Save the Redwoods League 2026 Spring Summit and Committee Meetings

The May and July 2026 spring summit and committee meetings with Save the Redwoods League (SRL) revealed how this organization, founded in 1918 and now led by President Steve Mietz, is bringing their work together through restoration and embracing stewardship. They have now separated into two complementary committees: Science and Restoration, and Stewardship and Restoration. Both committees met for the first time in a joint meeting to learn from each other. It was a very interesting conversation that crossed many disciplines, from fire ecology and management to carbon cycle, carbon policy, and climate change.

The field trip to the Headwaters Forest Reserve in Humboldt County, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, showed how research and collaboration with SRL helps the Bureau of Land Management manage second-growth redwood forest with the ultimate goal of creating conditions for old-growth forest in the future. While walking through several plots and management actions, it became clear that there is no single method to apply, metric to evaluate, or single funding strategy to immediately restore old-growth redwood forests. We have to slowly steward the areas. Each stand, depending on its history and how humans managed it, will require specific work, monitoring, and funding. 

SRL has also deepened its commitment to working with Tribal communities for their conservation and stewardship in the form of bringing back good fire to the landscape. In June 2024, the SRL hosted its first-ever cultural burn at Alder Creek Grove in the Sierra Nevada, led by the Tule River Indian Tribe, North Fork Mono Tribe (led by Chairman Ron Goode), and Tübatulabal Tribe (led by Tribal Chairman Robert Gomez). The North Fork Mono Tribe has been instrumental in sharing cultural burning knowledge across California, including here at Jasper Ridge where they worked with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in January 2026 on a cultural burn that became an example of two-eyed seeing application at the preserve. 

In March 2024, SRL signed an agreement with the Yurok Tribe, National Park Service, and California State Parks to transfer the 'O Rew property back to the Yurok Tribe, demonstrating how conservation organizations are moving toward land return and co-management with Indigenous peoples. To learn more about their conservation and stewardship initiatives, visit savetheredwoods.org.

Looking Forward

Across these three conferences, it is cleare that many of us, conservation communities, are still actively working to break down silos between scientists and managers, between Indigenous knowledge and Western science, between public agencies and private landowners, between academics and practitioners. 

This effort is similar to Jasper Ridge's journey since its designation as a preserve in 1973. Managing Jasper Ridge through major projects like wildfire risk reduction and the Searsville Watershed Restoration Project has been teaching us that protecting land isn't a one-time checkbox within a small group of people. It requires ongoing scientific studies, collaborative learning, accepting our limits, listening to best practices, and applying practical ecosystem management. This is the same thoughtful, adaptive approach these three organizations are embracing across the region. 

The message is clear. We are stronger when we are diverse and when we work together. As the Executive Director, I am committed to ensuring Jasper Ridge continues serving as a safe and welcoming space that contributes to understanding Earth's natural systems through research, education, and stewardship. As a host and bridge for these and many more organizations, we will continue building connections and developing hypotheses and predictions with diverse communities who are excited by the challenges and achievements of stewarding ecosystems for future generations.

Jorge Ramos, Ph.D., Executive Director, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve has been a member of the Golden Gate Biosphere Network since 1988 which recently joined TOGETHER Bay Area in 2026. JRBP was a co-founding member of the SCMSN in 2014 and has been a member since; Jorge has been participating since 2019. Via Jorge Ramos, JRBP has been a member of the Council of Save the Redwoods League since 2021 and serves on the Science and Restoration Committee.