Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s mission statement calls for preservation and protection of “Harpswell’s natural resources, cultural heritage, and access to the outdoors now and forever through conservation, stewardship, and education.” Conservation and education are straightforward, but what does stewardship entail?

The Judeo-Christian traditional approach to the land is based on Genesis 1:26, where it’s written that God decides to create man and “let them have dominion” over all things of the earth. The actual orders for exercising this dominion are in Genesis 1:28: man is to “replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” These two verses allow conflicting interpretation, but western civilizations from pre-history down to our own time generally emphasize the dominion and subjugation parts, with replenishment being at best a practical matter. The land belongs to humankind, in short, for its use and enjoyment.

The Indigenous approach comes from a different direction, where indigenous people belong to the lands and waters that nurture them rather than the other way around. The connection is spiritual, and living things are relatives. The land cares for the people, the people care for the land with gratitude and respect. The benefit is mutual. (This seems to be the case globally among indigenous cultures.)

Stewardship rests on traditional western thought, but incorporates elements of indigenous thinking. Each steward will act as their own values dictate. What HHLT offers stewards is the opportunity to directly engage in a relationship with the natural world.

Stewards are essential to realizing the HHLT mission. They work with staff to keep land and trails under HHLT’s aegis healthy and safe, serving the conservation mission by regularly monitoring properties for invasive plants and other potential threats to the land. The education mission is supported by trail access to preserve lands and waters, and stewards ensure that this access is kept open and inviting.

This work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The program is overseen by a Stewardship Committee chaired by Ron Davis, who says that HHLT staff and other stewards give training on such things as identifying invasive plants, best practices in trail maintenance, blaze painting and the like. In 2023 HHLT started hosting a yearly steward gathering with the hope of providing camaraderie and, when possible, new training opportunities. Stewards also work together on tasks pertaining to a property they share stewardship for or properties that share similar issues that need to be addressed.

Kara Douglas, with her two daughters and husband, has taken on stewardship of the Curtis Farm Preserve on Harpswell Neck. She was drawn to do so because she’s done trail work since childhood and loves “any excuse to work outside.” Kara says, “I think of stewardship of a public property as taking the best possible care of the ecosystem for its own sake while making it accessible to others who can benefit from being there.”

She notes, “Stewardship requires presence. Sometimes, it just means walking the trail and noticing things. Other times, cleaning up trash that gets left behind.”

HHLT welcomes stewards for all its preserves and trails. Davis explains that properties are assigned, but volunteer requests are respected. Of course, there may be more than one steward caring for a property. If so, they’ll work together to lighten the load. HHLT asks that stewards visit the properties assigned to them at least once each month and report issues that may arise. They also provide valuable feedback when HHLT staff and the Stewardship Committee are developing new trails and updating management plans.

For Douglas, “building new sections of trail is the most exciting…because it opens up new possibilities.” But, she says, that isn’t something she can always participate in, due to work and family schedules—which is one of the advantages of participating in the stewardship program: its tasks can be done according to the steward’s schedule, when time is available.

For those who value spending time with the land, becoming a steward is a way to both indulge yourself and contribute to your community. Working with the stewardship team, says Douglas, will “change the way you see the land and your place in it.”