In the Field with SLT - Preserving for Tomorrow

As temperatures begin to cool during early Fall, the Shasta Land Trust Stewardship Team spends many work days out in the field. Within the last week alone, the team has made multiple visits to two different geographically diverse sites in Shasta County, conducting essential land surveys and having important conversations with landowners. Both of these sites will be secured under permanent land protection agreements in the near future -- agreements officially known as “conservation easements”. Although easements are finalized as written documents, there is a large amount of data collection in the field that goes into constructing the end product. 

taken by stewardship director Tessa blevins during a site visit last month

One of the first steps in conserving a piece of land under easement is completing a thorough survey of what the property looks like, sort of like a current snapshot in time. To do this, the Stewardship Team drives out to a new property and takes inventory of the land through photographs and notetaking. Rare, native, and invasive plants, observed wildlife, waterways, soil types, human-made structures, and any relics showing cultural and historical significance are photographed or written down. The goal is to get consistent representation of the land, and oftentimes that means hiking long distances in remote areas in order to photograph sections of land that are not easily accessible by vehicle.

All notes and photographs taken in the field give life to a report known as the “Baseline Document Report”. This report then serves as a point of comparison for years to come for the Stewardship Team’s yearly monitoring. At least once a year, SLT staff visits all protected properties to look for any ecological or structural changes. Monitoring data is collected in a fashion similar to that of Baseline Documentation Report visits, with the Stewardship Team photographing or otherwise noting any consistencies as well as obvious changes in wildlife habitat, groundwater, working farmlands, and development.

The growing impacts of drought and wildfires are felt among all of us here in Shasta County as they relate to our homes, farms, and scenic landscapes we know and love. The protection of oak woodlands, wetlands, grasslands, and other important habitats under conservation easements helps to lessen these climate impacts by preserving the way of life for many native plant and animal species. Protecting lands from development also keeps the door open for future landowner conservation plans, with the possibility of implementing regenerative farming and restoration of natural areas. All this is to say, there is tremendous value to the days spent in the field because of what the data allows SLT to accomplish day by day, easement by easement!