A Hub for Stewardship, Learning, and Conservation Entrepreneurship
The Conservation Company is my personal and professional platform for inspiring stewardship, purpose, and connection to the places where people live. I use it to bring together all of my conservation, education, storytelling, and community-based projects under one mission: to help individuals and communities rediscover their relationship with nature, understand their local landscapes, and take meaningful, place-based stewardship actions. The Conservation Company operates as a for-profit public-benefit business, reinvesting its earnings into conservation education, local environmental projects, and community stewardship initiatives.
The Conservation Company is for profit, public benefit organization it is not a certification organization or program. It is a guiding philosophy supported by practical projects, creative work, educational resources, and demonstration efforts spread across the three regions where I spend my life: New York, Indiana, and Florida. If you want to see how I organize myself in these three areas CLICK HERE
The American Stewardship Network
The American Stewardship Network is a community and the national framework regarding all of my stewardship work and what I hope will be a framework for your efforts too. It provides a clear definition of stewardship, a set of guiding Principles, and a simple model that anyone can use to begin caring for the place they call home.
Through this Network, people can learn, participate, and become Steward-Subscribers by following any of my three online magazines.
→ Learn more about the American Stewardship Network.
My Stewardship Projects
These projects represent the practical, on-the-ground expressions of my stewardship mission. Each one demonstrates a different aspect of conservation entrepreneurship, environmental education, or community engagement.
Hollyhock Hollow Project
Continuing the legacy of a significant conservation study and helping inform future land stewardship in partnership with the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy.
F.A.R.M.S. Project
Focused on local food systems, sustainable agriculture, and community awareness of how food choices impact both the environment and local economies.
My Nature of Things Project
My project aimed at encourage a growing number of people to get outdoors, enjoy nature and share their experiences with posts and pictures about their own nature-based experiences.
My Stewardship Publications Project
The development of free and paid educational materials—including guides, workbooks, downloads, and eBooks—that support people on their stewardship journeys.
My Online Sales Project
My project aimed at keeping things out of landfills and giving second life to still useful products and generating income that I use to contribute to various conservation and stewardship efforts.
Storytelling & Creative Works
These creative projects deepen the mission of The Conservation Company through storytelling, heritage, and reflection.
Dodson’s Bookshelf
My home for writing fiction, short stories, and narrative experiments—including emerging stewardship-themed tales featuring Ben Eatin, Murray Pickens, and other characters who bring environmental wisdom to life through humor, storytelling, and lived experience.
As these stories grow, they will become another pathway for people to learn about stewardship in an accessible and engaging way.
My Free Digital Magazines
I write and publish three free online/digital magazines called The Nature of Things, Conservation Lifestyles and Conservation Chronicles on the Substack platform.
Nature Photography
For more than fifty years I have used photography as a way to observe, appreciate, and document the natural world. My camera helps me slow down, pay attention, and capture the small, beautiful, and often unnoticed details of the places I call home. These images support my stewardship work and inspire others to see nature through a more attentive lens.
→ View my online collection of nature photographs.
The Nature of Things YouTube Channel
My YouTube project, The Nature of Things with Ron Dodson, blends storytelling, field observations, personal insights, and practical lessons learned from everyday encounters with nature. Each episode highlights something I’ve seen, experienced, or learned during the week, offering viewers encouragement to explore their own surroundings and take simple stewardship actions.
→ Visit The Nature of Things with Ron Dodson on YouTube.