Spring Challenge 2026
April 8th – June 30th
Introduction
With passion and perseverance, you all made TSN Spring Challenge 2026 one for the books! Reporting was heavy and consistent from the beginning, running well ahead of benchmarks all season long. With days to go, it was clear we were going to sail past previous records. With hours to go, one of our largest TSN Member Communities came through with their verified season metrics and that’s when “whoa, big year” really flew off the charts
At the close of reporting, we’d received reports of over 105,000 hours of stewardship (a staggering +85% increase from 2025, shattering all previous records) from nearly 19,000 participants, equaling over $3.6 million of work-hour value poured into local ecosystems. Each year, we ask you to show us the true power of “do more together” and every time, you inspire us to no end. Thank you, everyone!
About the Program
Since its foundation in 2008, TSN Spring Challenge has always been a call to do more together. Each year, we challenge our stewards and our communities to spend a little longer caring for their local lands and waters, knowing from experience that action inspires action. Our role is to collect, calculate, and celebrate all this combined impact, inspiring our wide-reaching audience with the power of stewardship at scale and hopefully making field season as fun as possible along the way. For 2026, qualifying categories of stewardship activities include:
Plant Removal | New Planting | Trash Removal | Ecosystem Monitoring | Prescribed Burning | Education/Advocacy
If your stewardship doesn’t quite fit in, additional activities are welcomed under our Other designation!
Who Can Participate?
This program warmly welcomes all caretakers of nature in all geographies and ecosystems. Whether you’re doing a little or a lot, we’re excited to have you here. Volunteers are a huge part of this effort each year, but professional stewards, you’re invited too! As long as the time you’re reporting is spent doing a qualifying activity, it absolutely counts.
Measuring Across Categories
The single unit of stewardship effort for TSN Spring Challenge, whatever the category, is stewardship hours. If you spend 8 hours caring for your garden, removing trash from a local park, or volunteering for a TSN Member Community, that’s 8 hours into the program. If you and three friends do the same work in one quarter of the time, that’s (4 people x 2 hours) 8 total hours also. Easy, right? But here’s the catch: we can only celebrate you if we know what you did and we only know what you did if you report it!
#TSNspring Honors
Whether you report one hour or ten thousand hours, we’re all on the same team and none of us can win alone when it comes to stewardship. That said, we’re always excited to make a big deal about the groups that take our “do more” challenge to heart and end up “doing the most.” If you’re looking for a little peer inspiration, check out these reporting standouts from TSN Spring Challenge 2026:
The Community Cup WINNER
Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition
The Root Cup WINNER
West Michigan Conservation Network
The Teacher Cup WINNER
Grand-Raisin Conservation Community
Awarded to the organization reporting the most total education/advocacy hours
The Partner Cup WINNER
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
The Inspiration Cup WINNER
Lake St. Clair CISMA
Awarded to groups that report early and often, with great images and stories to inspire their peers
The Solo Cup WINNER
Jon and Susan C.
Awarded to the unaffiliated individual or family reporting the most total stewardship hours
Spread the Word
Of course, the more people who join us in this effort, the more powerful it becomes. If you’d like to support us by inviting more of nature’s caretakers into the fold, we’d certainly appreciate it! Digitally, you can share this webpage, tag your social posts with #TSNspring, or follow along with our TSN Facebook page for updates and engage away! Due to popular demand, we’ve also prepared flyers that you’re very welcome to print out and post wherever makes sense in your community.
Boosts are Back!
We know how tempting it is to delay reporting and how much more inspirational it is for your peers if you don’t, so TSN Spring Challenge Boosts are back to make timely reporting an extremely compelling choice! Each Tuesday during this program, our staff will draw a random name from amongst all the people who submitted a report by 11:59pm Monday night. If the name drawn is an independent steward with no stated organizational affiliation, that person gets to choose any of the remaining tokens of appreciation we’ve procured for this effort. If the name drawn has claimed any group affiliation, they get their pick and the organization does, too!
To clarify, any number of reports in a single week still equals one name in our drawing and the number of hours per report does not impact your chances, so while it pays to report early and often, you can feel very free to combine each week’s reports into one entry at your discretion.
Currently Available Boosts
NSS Opti-Mist P Hand Pump Sprayer – 3 gallon (17 still available)
Limited edition TSN Hooded Sweatshirt (M, L, XL still available)
You choice of any one tool courtesy of Rogue Hoe (1 still available)
Stuff Travel Waist Pack in “Black” courtesy of REI Co-op (3 available)
Stuff Travel Waist Pack in “Desert Moss” courtesy of REI Co-op (2 remaining)
Stuff Travel Waist Pack in “Glacier Peak, Jasper Green” courtesy of REI Co-op (2 available)
Stuff Travel Waist Pack in “Rockwall” courtesy of REI Co-op (2 available)
Nalgene Wide-Mouth Water Bottle in “Sticker/Clear” courtesy of REI Co-op (5 available)
$25 gift card courtesy of Bivouac clothing boutique in Ann Arbor (2 available)
$50 gift card courtesy of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses
Two tickets courtesy of The Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, MI
Four one-day passes courtesy of Dow Gardens in Midland, MI (2 sets available)
One year of free visits (Household Membership) courtesy of Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton, MI
$25 gift certificates courtesy of Arbor Teas (2 available)
Epson EX7325 Projector with Gator carrying case (lightly used – 1 remaining)
Boot & Shoe Brushes from NAISMA!
Free shipping on your next TSN Gloves for Good request
Goodie bag from Huron Clinton Metroparks (no passes)
“Ishkode: A Story of Fire” by Evan Larson & Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano
“Water for Any Farm,” donated by the author, Mark Shepard
“Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change” by Rob Badger & Nita Winter
Framed, historic photo of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, or Detroit (three available)
“Summertime Blues” art print by Lori Taylor
Boosts Claimed in 2026
The perks of reporting early and often!
NSS Opti-Mist P Hand Pump Sprayer – 3 gallon (3 claimed)
You choice of any one tool courtesy of Rogue Hoe (2 claimed)
Limited edition TSN Hooded Sweatshirt (4 claimed)
One “Our Absolute Best Gift Box” courtesy of Cherry Republic
Eastern Forest Playing Cards, featuring text by former TSN Conference keynote David Haskell
Stuff Travel Waist Pack in “Desert Moss” courtesy of REI Co-op (1 claimed)
Epson EX7325 Projector with Gator carrying case (2 claimed)
“Western Columbine” print by Peggy K. Duke
“Wild Columbine” print by Peggy K. Duke
ForLife Cold Brew Iced Tea Maker and two bags of organic tea courtesy of Arbor Teas
“Bluebells” 6in x 12in acrylic painting by Paul Muelle
Then and Now
What was once the Garlic Mustard Challenge and then the Spring Invasive Species Challenge bloomed anew as the TSN Spring Challenge in 2022, adding more ways to help so everyone can get outside and get involved during this vital season. While the program has grown in scope to include activities beyond its invasive species tradition, groups focused on that form of stewardship remain warmly welcomed and strongly encouraged to participate. What certainly hasn’t changed is the importance of this program, which since its first iteration in 2008 has celebrated over 567,000 hours from nearly 90,000 people to create over $17.2 million in workhour value while removing over 2.6 million pounds of invasive plant species from local ecosystems.
In many ways, the spirit of TSN Spring Challenge is the spirit that formed The Stewardship Network itself. There is power in realizing that you are not alone in this work and there is power in showing the world just how much we can accomplish when we join forces. Some participants tell us that this effort helps with their own data management and some leverage the big group number to boost their own outreach efforts. Some have told us they’ve seen great benefits from being featured on TSN’s wide-reaching social channels and some say it just feels good to be part of it all. Whatever sparks your action, we love it and we thank you for your support!
Image courtesy of Milwaukee Riverkeeper (TSN Spring Challenge 2023)
An investment
in the future
TSN Spring Challenge is second only to TSN Conference in the level of investment our organization pours into an annual program. If you’re inspired by this collective effort and want to help us sustain it into the future, we’d be delighted to accept a donation of any size at the link below. Thank you!