id: land-stewardship-council
title: Land Stewardship Council
description: >-
  A community governance practice for collective stewardship of land,
  drawing on Indigenous land relationships and contemporary land trust
  governance. The council deliberates on how land is cared for, who has
  access, and how decisions about land are made collectively rather than
  through private ownership.
source: Indigenous land stewardship traditions / Land Trust Alliance
source_url: https://www.landtrustalliance.org/
tags: [land, stewardship, governance, indigenous, community]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Acknowledge the land
    description: >-
      The council opens by acknowledging the land itself as a living
      presence and the Indigenous peoples whose relationship to the land
  - headline: Present the stewardship matter
    description: >-
      The matter — a land use decision, a restoration project, a question
      of access — is presented with its full context.
  - headline: Deliberate in the land's interest
    description: >-
      The council deliberates not only in the interest of human members
      but in the interest of the land and its non-human inhabitants.
  - headline: Decide by consensus
    description: >-
      Decisions are made by consensus, with attention to those absent
      and to future generations who will inherit the land.
  - headline: Commit to action and reciprocity
    description: >-
      The council commits to specific stewardship actions and to
      reciprocal obligations — what the community will give back to
      the land.
outcome: >-
  Land is governed as a shared responsibility rather than a commodity,
  with decisions made in the interest of the land and future generations.
practice: >-
  Indigenous communities have stewarded land through council for
  millennia. If you are not Indigenous, approach this practice with
  humility and follow Indigenous leadership where available. The land
  is not a resource to be managed but a relationship to be maintained.