ABSTRACT. Stewardship represents one set of solutions for effective environmental management, emphasizing a distinctive configuration of knowledge, motivation, and social embeddedness, in contrast to market-based and regulatory approaches. More specifically, ‘culturally reflexive stewardship’ (crs) describes a class of human / natural system linkages, interweaving landscape, community, and culture. It involves collective actions to sustain a way of life, motivated by a shared appreciation of place, and expressed through practices that transmit local knowledge and affirm a social identity. While crs often provides the logic and motivation for advocacy or protest, supporting environmental justice goals for indigenous, minority, or voiceless communities, it may be characteristic of most distinctive social groups with multigenerational ties to specific environments. Examples could include American Indian tribes in Oregon, Amish farmers in Pennsylvania, or cattle ranchers in South Dakota. This presentation first identifies design principles underlying crs, which include (1) the social construction of environmental experience, (2) the symbolic character of environmental knowledge, and (3) the multidimensionality of environmental value, reflecting cultural frames for experiencing, preserving, and appropriating the attributes of place and landscape. crs involves intrinsically motivated behavior, contrasting with the extrinsic incentives that characterize most environmental policy. The presentation then considers whether such design principles offer opportunities for improving policy responses to global environmental challenges, such as energy and resource conservation.