OUR STORY
Built by landowners,
for landowners.
Most land management software was built by software companies. Private Land Stewards was built by people who spend their days walking timber stands, evaluating wildlife habitat, planning prescribed burns, designing fields, and helping landowners make better decisions.
WHERE WE STARTED
We built the platform
we wished existed.
Private Land Stewards grew out of years spent working alongside landowners through Private Land Management and Private Land Brokers. For years, every recommendation lived in notebooks, aerial maps, GIS software, spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and management plans scattered across dozens of files. We knew there had to be a better way.
Those experiences taught us something important: every property is different, but every landowner asks the same questions. What should I do first? Is this plant beneficial or invasive? When should I burn? Should I thin these pines? Why aren't I seeing more deer? What happened here five years ago? Am I actually making progress?
Those are the questions we designed Private Land Stewards to answer — not by automating your judgment, but by making sure your judgment and your history are never lost.
Private Land Stewards brings your tools together into one platform, making it easier to understand your land, make confident decisions, track your progress, and build a legacy that lasts for generations.
"If this is helping us become better stewards of the land, why keep it to ourselves?"
— Jason Hewett, Co-Founder
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Four principles we
don't negotiate on.
01
The land comes first.
Every decision we make — what to build, what to charge, what to prioritize — starts with a single question: does this make it easier for landowners to do right by their land? If the answer is no, we don't build it.
02
Stewardship spans generations.
The best management decisions are made with a long memory. We build for the landowner who thinks in decades, not quarters — who wants the record they keep today to still be legible and useful to their grandchildren.
03
Data belongs to the landowner.
You own your records. Not us. Every piece of data you enter into Private Land Stewards is yours to export in open formats at any time, for any reason, without asking our permission.
04
Expertise is not optional.
Private land stewardship is complex. We don't pretend otherwise or dumb it down. We build tools that respect the knowledge of foresters, wildlife biologists, and landowners who have been doing this for decades.
THE FOUNDERS
People who have
walked the ground.
Our founders are foresters, wildlife managers, and landowners. Nobody here is guessing what matters.
Jason Hewett
Co-Founder
Land manager with decades of experience across the Southeast. Former President of the South Carolina Plantation Managers Association. Built Private Land Stewards to share what works.
James Garrett
Co-Founder
Wildlife biologist with B.S. and M.S. degrees and over ten years of experience managing 1,000 acres in Alabama. Brings a systems-based approach to habitat management, combining science with hands-on management experience to help landowners achieve their wildlife objectives.
"
Throughout my career, I've tried to operate with an open hand. Whether it was hosting Clemson and Haywood Community College wildlife classes, organizing the South Carolina Handlers Trial, serving as President of the South Carolina Plantation Managers Association, or simply inviting other landowners to walk properties with me, I've always enjoyed sharing what was working — and just as importantly, what wasn't.
Private Land Stewards is simply an extension of that philosophy.
I originally built it because I needed a better way to organize the countless management decisions we make across our own properties and those of our clients. The more we relied on it, the more I realized it wasn't just making us more efficient — it was helping us make better decisions.
At some point, I had to ask myself a simple question: If this is helping us become better stewards of the land, why keep it to ourselves?
That's why Private Land Stewards exists — not to replace experience, but to make decades of practical land management knowledge more accessible to every landowner who wants to leave their property better than they found it.
Because better stewardship doesn't happen by keeping knowledge to yourself. It happens by sharing it.
— Jason Hewett, Co-Founder
"
As a wildlife biologist, I've always been fascinated by the puzzle of habitat management.
Every property is different, and every acre presents its own challenges.
The goal is to understand which management techniques to apply, where to apply them, and when to apply them to create the plant response that supports a specific wildlife objective. Finding those answers has taken years of research, experimentation, and hands-on management.
But discovering what works is only half the battle.
Successfully managing a property means staying organized, remembering what was done, recognizing what's due next, and consistently implementing the right practices across dozens of management units, season after season, year after year.
Private Land Stewards grew from that need.
It brings management plans, records, recommendations, and seasonal tasks together in one place, making it easier to stay organized, on schedule, and focused on what matters most — making better decisions for the land.
There's nothing more rewarding than watching a property respond exactly as you hoped. When the plant community changes, the wildlife follows, and all the pieces of the puzzle come together.
— James Garrett, Co-Founder
BEGIN TODAY
Your land has a story
worth telling.
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