COMMUNICATING RESULTS TO VOLUNTEERS IN THE CITIZEN-BASED STREAM MONITORING

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0213121
• Project Start Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Project End Date: Dec 31, 2009
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF WISCONSIN
21 N PARK ST STE 6401
MADISON,WI 53715-1218

Performing Department
LIFE SCIENCES COMMUNICATION

Non Technical Summary
The Wisconsin Citizen-based Water Monitoring Network educates citizens involved in the program and provides some useful data for policy decision-making. However, one limitation has been maximizing the program's impact by communicating back the results of citizen-monitoring efforts to the volunteers who are the foundation for the ongoing success of the initiative and conveying the findings to other citizens, media and other stakeholders at local, regional and statewide levels. Monitoring efforts are optimized when a stable and growing cadre of individuals continues to stay engaged and build the capacity of the program. Yet little is being done to enhance the continued commitment of these volunteers or assure that their work is being fully leveraged to increase awareness about water quality issues in the state. The purpose of this two-year intervention study is to investigate the potential of strategic outreach efforts to enhance the impact, reach and sustainability of the citizen-based stream monitoring program. Using the Theory of Continued Social Commitment as a guiding framework, this research seeks to understand the potential efficacy of the proposed strategic communication intervention and - if proven to be efficacious - will conduct additional analyses to provide insights about what aspects of the campaign were most effective. This study will employ a pre-test/post-test design comparing the baseline to changes in outcomes one year later examining mean differences. The comparisons we will focus on are between the initial pre-test and the final appraisals of users about their experience of being volunteers and their attitudes about the value of their work at the end of the testing period.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

50%

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
112	0399	3030	50%
903	0399	3030	50%

Knowledge Area
112 - Watershed Protection and Management; 903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
0399 - Watersheds and river basins, general;

Field Of Science
3030 - Information and communication;

Keywords

volunteers

citizen monitoring

streams

social marketing

theory of continued commitment

Goals / Objectives
The goals of this study are to test whether targeting locally relevant citizen-based water monitoring data with recognition of volunteers and germane pro-environmental behavioral recommendations will improve the following outcomes: 1.) Greater intent of volunteers to stay involved with stream monitoring program; 2.) Greater likelihood that beginner volunteers will progress to more advanced levels and increased likelihood that volunteers with higher levels of training will stay actively involved. 3.) Increased beliefs that people can make a difference for their environment and sense of responsibility for doing so; 4.) Enhanced advocacy as measured by communicating about water quality issues with other citizens, environmental interest groups, editorials and government stakeholders; 5.) Increased referrals by existing volunteers to others to join the citizen water monitoring program; 6.) Increased local media coverage about the program and subsequent awareness about the relative health of local streams and lakes. The intervention will be multifaceted and include the following components: 1.) E-mail newsletters to volunteers and affiliated non-profit environmental groups, and local governmental officials; 2.)Customized PowerPoint presentations will also be provided to local stream monitoring volunteers to use in their outreach efforts; 3.) E-mail and print newsletters to Department of Natural Resources employees, state legislators, county board members, and local officials; 4.) Localized data from citizen stream monitors will also be sent to Natural Resources Education Professionals (e.g., Extension, DNR, County Land and Water Conservation staff) and non-profit advocacy groups to increase awareness of water quality issues on a regional basis; 5.) Press releases will be sent to local media (newspapers, radio and TV) where citizen volunteers are monitoring stream quality including regionally relevant data and quotes from local volunteers. Outbound communications will be sent out concurrently on a quarterly basis. Local citizen monitor leaders will also be trained in how to talk with the media in the event they are contacted for a story.

Project Methods
This study will employ a pre-test/post-test design comparing the baseline to changes in outcomes one year later examining mean differences. The comparisons we will focus on are between the initial pre-test and the final appraisals of users about their experience of being volunteers and their attitudes about the value of their work at the end of the testing period. This study will follow the design template of another study recently published by the Principal Investigator of this study (Shaw, Scheufele & Catalano, 2007). The survey will focus exclusively on volunteers though other target audiences (e.g., editors, legislators, and advocacy groups) will also be exposed to various elements of the campaign. Secondary analyses will also be conducted to compare sub-groups of the volunteer sample (i.e., based on level of training and region). Two types of variables will be examined in this pre-test/post design, including both process variables and outcome variables. Process variables refer to the degree of awareness and perceived impact of various campaign elements (e.g., media stories, legislative alerts, newsletters, advocacy materials such as PowerPoint presentations to use with community groups). The primary distal outcomes in this study will include intention to continue volunteering and continuing involvement among existing volunteers and enrollment among new ones compared to the previous year. Other secondary outcomes will include attitudes (e.g., ecological stewardship, degree of social exchange about ecological issues in their peer groups, referrals of others to the program, knowledge and awareness of water-related issues and solutions).

Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Research: A post-test survey was conducted among Level 2 Stream Monitoring volunteers to determine whether our strategic outreach initiatives were successful at building long-term commitment to the program. Data collection was completed in Nov. 2009. Activities have thus far been disseminated via a newsletter called Environmental Communication and Social Marketing," (http://ecsm.uwex.edu) as well as the national Volunteer Monitor Newsletter. Oral presentations about the project were given at Stream Leaders Workshop, the CRD Symposium/CNRED Colloquium, and the 2009 Citizen-Based Stream Monitoring Symposium. Events New curriculum to promote awareness about stream health among middle school and high school students, including a training workshop with 13 teachers. In Nov., we held a follow-up meeting with the teachers to see what worked and what didn't to refine the curriculum so more teachers will use it in the future. First-ever Stream Leaders Workshop featuring results of this study and other topics such as working with legislators, microinvertebrates, advanced monitoring methods, media training and a primer on the new school curriculum. Products Some products directly attributed to this grant included the following: A new school curriculum to encourage awareness about stream health. This new curriculum for middle school and high school students encourages involvement in citizen stream monitoring program and knowledge about stream health and was pilot tested in Sept. and Oct. 2009. Numerous new Web site resources including, how to write a press release, a letter to the editor tutorial and tips on raising money from local foundations including fund-raising letter templates. These were also distributed via e-mail to volunteers. A brochure for volunteers to share with community members to explain the program and recruit interested parties who may want to join the program. Filling this need stemmed from formative research in which volunteers indicated during a series of in-depth interviews that they needed this material to communicate about the program more effectively in their local communities. The brochure can be accessed at the below URL: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/pdf/level1/news/CitizenMonitoringPock etFolder.pdf A "stream monitoring took kit" to provide volunteer stream monitors the resources they need to encourage awareness about monitoring and stream health and mailed to every Level 2 Volunteer Stream Monitor. PowerPoints for volunteers to use and modify when explaining the program to others (e.g., service clubs, schools, public meetings). Dissemination In order to increase visibility about the Citizen Stream Monitoring Program, the project published 6 news articles around Wisconsin highlighting program successes including stories in the Wisconsin Outdoor News, Cambridge News, Marshfield News, Fond Du Lac Reporter, Prairie du Chien Courier Press, and WORT-FM radio in Madison. After stories were published, they were distributed via e-mail to volunteers and other stakeholders and posted on the program web site to maximize their outreach potential. These stories can be viewed at: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/level2/outreach.html PARTICIPANTS: People - Kris Stepenuck, Citizen Stream Monitoring Program Coordinator, Water Action Volunteers and several Level 3 programs; Chris Clayton, Level 2 Stream Monitoring Pilot Project Coordinator, River Alliance of Wisconsin and the Department of Natural Resources, Allison Werner, Education Coordinator, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Bret Shaw - Professor at UW-Madison and appointment through UW-Extension with the Life Science Communications Department, Elizabeth Goers - Graduate Student with the Life Science Communications Department, Heather Akin - Graduate Student with the Life Science Communications, Department Organizations - Organizations engaged in this project included UW Extension, the Department of Natural Resources, the River Alliance of Wisconsin and several watershed groups. All individuals and organizations benefited by having access to practitioners/researchers trained in the area of strategic communication campaigns. TARGET AUDIENCES: The central target audience for this target audience were Level 2 Volunteer Stream Monitors to increase their satisfaction with the program. Secondary target audiences were level 1 volunteers who may be come level 2 volunteers, media, and community stakeholders in a position to make decisions about stream health. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Of the 96 Level 2 citizen stream monitoring volunteers who received the pre-test survey, 57 participated in the survey (a 59% response rate), and 51 surveys were considered complete and used in this analysis (53% total response rate). This pre-test revealed that volunteers were satisfied with their technical skills and understanding of stream science, but they thought the program could do a better job illustrating to the public how the program is making an impact. Therefore, we developed a comprehensive communications campaign (described above) to address volunteer stream monitor's perceived shortcomings in the program. Following the approximately 18-month outreach and capacity building campaign, a post-test was conducted in November 2009. Post-test analyses, which included key measures we wanted to evaluate over the course of out outreach work found that our intervention was successful at improving volunteers' perceptions about program efficacy, specifically in the area that the data they collected as a volunteer was being used as effectively as possible to promote conservation issues and that the citizen stream monitoring program was doing a good job getting the word out about the data they collected as a citizen stream monitoring volunteer. Campaign elements that were viewed as most useful by citizen stream monitors were the new educational curriculum designed to teach youth about stream-related health issues, brochures explaining the citizen stream monitoring program to interested parties, media stories about citizen stream monitoring program published in newspapers throughout state, and the stream leader workshop designed to teach advanced volunteer monitors about how to get more involved with promoting stream health issues in their community. In open-ended comments and unsolicited e-mails, we also received a lot of comments from volunteers expressing their enthusiasm and support for resources generated as part of this project.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities for 2008 focuses on implementation of the intervention to increase volunteer citizen stream monitors' satisfaction and commitment to the program. We conducted a survey of Level 2 Volunteers to learn where the program had to focus it's communication and outreach efforts to improve volunteer satisfaction with the program. It was clear from our research that volunteers felt they had the skills to perform their duties and believed in the program. However, it was very clear that they thought the program could do a better job in getting the word out about the program to community stakeholders. We used this data to implement a number of initiatives to increase the visibility of the citizen stream monitoring program. PARTICIPANTS: To make this project happen, we have been actively collaborating with UW Extension, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the River Alliance of Wisconsin. Our most essential contacts have been the following individuals, who have been our consistent partners in moving this project forward. Kris Stepenuck, Citizen Stream Monitoring Program Coordinator, UW Extension and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Chris Clayton, Level 2, Stream Monitoring Pilot Project Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and River Alliance of Wisconsin. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our primary target audience for this project are the Volunteer Level 2 Citizen Stream Monitors themselves as our study focuses on improving their satisfaction with the program. Secondary target audiences include media gatekeepers, local leaders and the general public who may be recruited to join the program. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
A number of outreach activities were successfully accomplished in 2008. We have completed our qualitative and quantitative research to understand what motivates volunteers to be involved with Wisconsin's Citizen Stream Monitoring Program. The primary findings that resulted from this research is that stream monitor volunteers want to feel their work is making a difference in protecting local streams. To address this need, I have managed my research assistant, Elizabeth Goers, in obtaining numerous media stories in media markets across the state reporting on how citizen stream monitors work is making a difference to protect local streams. As part of this program, we have obtained media attention around the state highlighting the program's successes around the state including stories in the Wisconsin Outdoor News, Cambridge News, Marshfield News, Fond Du Lac Reporter, Prairie du Chien Courier Press, and WORT-FM radio in Madison. These stories can be viewed at: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/level2/outreach.html Based on feedback from our target audience, we also produced a brochure for volunteers to share with community members to explain the program and recruit interested parties who may want to join the program. The brochure can be accessed at the following URL: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/pdf/level1/news/CitizenMonitoringPock etFolder.pdf

Publications

• No publications reported this period