This document summarizes strategies and findings from an environmental initiative in Itasca County, Minnesota. It discusses (1) marketing and behavior change strategies to encourage stewardship, (2) results from a survey of shoreland owners that found most want to be good stewards but lack knowledge of ordinances, (3) focus group feedback requesting more information and assistance, (4) observations from boat surveys that shorelines could be improved, and (5) the Itasca Lake Challenge program that provides shoreline evaluations and resources to property owners. Next steps include developing a web version of the Lake Challenge and further expanding the program model to new regions, demographics, and lake development levels.
3. Erika Rivers, MN DNR
Karlyn Eckman, U of MN research fellow
Michael Goldberg, Action Media
Mark Hauck, MN DNR
Steve Henry, Otter Tail SWCD
Itasca County Itasca SWCD
Itasca Master Gardeners
Volunteers
4. Itasca NSBI Program Building:
1. Marketing and behavior change strategies
2. Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey
3. Focus group of shoreland owners
4. Boat-by “survey”
5. Fourteen years experience
TAKE-HOME MESSAGES…
5. Marketing/behavior change strategies
Frame Message/Word choice
Peer-peer delivery most effective (dissemination)
Small incentives can be effective
Community norms/modeling
Remove barriers
Entry-level activity
Public commitment
Karlyn Eckman, personal communication
Action Media, personal communication
McKenzie-Mohr, D. and W. Smith. 1999. Fostering Sustainable Behavior.
6. KAP survey*
2/3 are SEASONAL owners
Lake association is great link to owners
68% prefer native shorelines
ALL want to be good stewards of their property
Huge interest in fish & wildlife
40% enjoy lawn maintenance
Little perception of lake trends 68%
None could describe ordinances
*results based upon 109 door-door and 116 mail-in survey responses of 340
total 10K property owners on 5 lakes in Itasca Co.
7. KAP survey (cont.)
Incentives: Detailed information and instruction (64%),
technical support (51%), “how-to” workshop (48%),
input on design (48%), financial support (42%), labor
assistance (37%)
Constraints: already have a natural shore (81%), like
shore the way it is (19%), time (7%), don’t know where to
start (6%), physical limitations (5%), like lawn (5%),
cost (4%), too much work (4%), block view (2%)
8. Focus Group
More information/assistance on buffers
Individual site visit by trained professional
9. Boat-by survey
Ground-truth KAP survey (many shores have buffer)
Nearly all shorelines could be improved (for wildlife
habitat, run-off, visual screen, etc.)
10. Fourteen years of experience:
Shoreland owner continuum
Buffer installation overwhelming (on large frontages)
Little recognition/options for those already with buffers
11. Itasca NSBI Program
Local resource network
Program Promotion (primarily via Lake Associations)
Trained Master Gardeners conduct site visits
Follow-up with requested resources
Recognition of participants
Data entry and management
Evaluation
***Local coordinator***
12. The Lake Challenge
On site shore evaluation tool
Face-to-face site visit
No cost, no obligation
Simple
Educational
Follow-up assistance
13. The Lake Challenge (cont.)
Something for everyone
Immediate feedback/suggestions
Owners choose Challenges
14.
15.
16.
17. KAP #2 Results*
Little change in Knowledge and Attitude
25 % knew of the Lake Challenge
78% of these via lake association or neighbor
15% engaged in lake- and wildlife-friendly behavior
due to Lake Challenge (buffer, citizen research, frog
survey, fish sticks, etc.)
Motivating factor to take Lake Challenge was
opportunity to interact with professional
(stewardship)
* Eckman, K. 2011. Itasca NSBI Social Research Report.
19. Next steps (cont.)
Further develop “program”
Test program applicability to different regions?
Different demographics? Different levels of lake
development?
Statewide use? Beyond?