Environmental stewardship covers a wide variety of topics, from water conservation and water quality management, to management practices that keep playing surfaces healthy, problems in check, and wildlife habitats thriving. Conducting an environmental assessment and preparing a good environmental plan articulates the vision of the course and provides direction: they define goals, identify methods and establish personnel responsibilities and timelines. Turfgrass areas should be managed with the primary goal of optimizing the health of the turfgrass and improving playability while reducing inputs. An environmental management plan identifies environmental assets on the golf course, defines the goals for maximizing these areas and outlines implementation strategies. Components of this important analysis encompass many topics, such as water use, water quality, energy use, pesticide and fertilizer use, wildlife habitat and maintenance standards. The plan itself may be relatively simple or complex, but it should be comprehensive.