Abstract
In many communities, regions, or landscapes, there are numerous environmental groups working across different sectors and creating stewardship networks that shape the environment and the benefits people derive from it. The make-up of these networks can vary, but generally include organizations of different sizes and capacities. As the Covid-19 pandemic (2020 to the present) shuts down businesses and nonprofits, catalyzes new initiatives, and generally alters the day-to-day professional and personal lives, it is logical to assume that these stewardship networks and their environmental work are impacted; exactly how, is unknown. In this study, we analyze the self-reported effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on stewardship groups working in southeast New England, USA. Stewardship organizations were surveyed from November 2020 to April 2021 and asked, among other questions, "How is Covid-19 affecting your organization?" We analyzed responses using several qualitative coding approaches. Our analysis revealed group-level impacts including changes in group capacity, challenges in managing access to public green spaces, and altered forms of volunteer engagement. These results provide insights into the varied effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and government responses such as stay-at-home orders and social distancing policies on stewardship that can inform the development of programs to reduce negative outcomes and enhance emerging capacities and innovations.
Highlights
The Covid-19 virus was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 (CDC, 2021)
In times of crises and disturbance, environmental stewardship groups, in this case, predominantly civic and non-profit groups that make claims to specific places and engage in acts of caretaking of air, land, and waters (Svendsen and Campbell, 2008; Campbell et al, 2021), emerge and shift as communities cope with changing social-ecological dynamics (Svendsen, 2010)
While sometimes considered less visible, and more ephemeral, than government-led environmental efforts (Campbell et al, 2021), the direct management, advocacy, education, collaboration, and contestation carried out by environmental stewardship groups are a key component of modern environmental governance and resulting social and environmental outcomes (Connolly et al, 2013; Campbell et al, 2021)
Summary
The Covid-19 virus was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 (CDC, 2021). In the months to follow, life was altered as entire countries went into lockdown to contain and slow the spread of Covid-19. In times of crises and disturbance, environmental stewardship groups, in this case, predominantly civic and non-profit groups that make claims to specific places and engage in acts of caretaking of air, land, and waters (Svendsen and Campbell, 2008; Campbell et al, 2021), emerge and shift as communities cope with changing social-ecological dynamics (Svendsen, 2010) Examples of such adaptations in practices include making gardens during wartime (Helphand, 2006), the creation of living memorials following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City (Tidball et al, 2010), and new tree planting efforts following hurricane Katrina (Tidball and Stedman, 2013). The Covid-19 pandemic is a public health crisis that may have impacted environmental stewardship groups and shifted their work; we seek to understand how
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