Who takes care of Hawaiʻi? Understanding the roles and capacities of civic organizations in environmental stewardship

Abstract Extensive threats to ecosystems and a diversity of motivations for environmental care have driven a growing environmental stewardship movement. The impact of this movement has the potential to be large, but the defining features are poorly characterized. As a result, the contributions of many civic groups that care for the environment may be unrecognized. We develop an understanding of the network of environmental stewardship groups (ESGs) on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, in order to identify approaches to support effective, efficient, and equitable local environmental stewardship. To do this, we conducted a survey of civic ESGs to understand how they engaged in environmental stewardship and semi‐structured interviews to elaborate ESGs' visions and challenges. Survey respondents ( n = 128) identified a network of >600 collaborating groups. While the central focus for many ESGs was caring for and educating about places, landscapes, and lifeforms, many of these groups also cultivated young leaders, community well‐being, and sharing of cultural values and knowledge, highlighting the biocultural approaches to environmental stewardship taken by respondents. Stewardship networks consisted of civic ESGs (77%) with a significant number of government agencies (19%) and few private (3%) or hybrid groups (2%), highlighting the collaborative governance that occurs when groups recognize shared goals in the face of limited resources. We highlight efforts that can support the normalization of environmental stewardship into everyday life, a goal expressed by interviewees: (1) stewardship collaborations of government and nongovernmental organizations become mainstream and expand to groups beyond the environmental sector, (2) ESGs expand their monitoring to include social impacts, (3) funders expand their embrace of Indigenous frameworks of well‐being, especially of more diverse indicators of success, and (4) increase access to culturally guided, place‐based learning for children and adults. These efforts are likely important in other postcolonial contexts with local traditions of environmental stewardship.