1. Kelechi Onunka
Mini Strategic Plan: Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge
Situation Analysis
The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge is lacking recognition in the city of Fort Worth. Due to
the shortage of recognition, attendance and park usage, the Nature Center lacks awareness that it
should merit. An increase in attendance will result in an increase in awareness and revenue. An
increase in attendance would bring in revenue through entrance fees and a variety of other
programs. Furthermore attendance should help reflect the ethnic diversity of the Nature Center.
The FWNC&R is a hidden wilderness composed of forests, prairies, and wetlands. The
FWNC&R is a division of the City of Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Department.
The Nature Center has 3,621 acres of land making it one of the largest city-owned nature centers
in the United States. With over 20 miles of hiking trails, the Nature Center provides access to the
many natural wonders of the refuge. The FWNC&R offers a variety of educational programs for
individuals, families and schools. The Nature Center staff is also involved in helping to preserve
the lands of North Central Texas.
Media Audit
A simple Google search of the Fort Worth Nature Center leads you to the main website and
directions to the Nature Center, there was not much but basic information. The Nature Center has
a few social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and a YouTube account. Of the
four, only their Facebook account has been in recent use. The other three social media accounts
seemed to not have been in use for some while. The Nature Center also had an article that was
written about them last year. That article was from the City of Fort Worth, celebrating the 50
years of the FWNC&R. Two other articles that I came across about FWNC&R were lists that
gave examples of where to go this spring. It was good to see the Nature Center being recognized
as a hot spot in Fort Worth. I believe a bit more exposure nationally would greatly benefit
awareness for the Nature Center. For the Nature Center to increase awareness they must utilize
their social media networks.
Research
The Nature Center suffers from a lack of awareness and attendance in its programs. The driving
forces of the Nature Center are the events that help maintain the refuge and development of the
foundation. The Nature Center must find a successful long-term plan to help balance an increase
in public use to help increase awareness. By expanding the Nature Center to becoming a notable
conservation education institution with considerable community ownership will help strengthen
awareness and financial support.
According to the City of Fort Worth website, residents of Fort Worth like to take advantage of
the spacious areas, whether biking along Trinity River’s 40 miles of trails or exploring the 20
miles of hiking trails at the FWNC&R. Fort Worth’s warm climate makes the city a perfect
destination for outdoor activities. Golf courses, water sports and camping areas abound in the
city.

2. According to an article written by reporter Dan Ashley for ABC News in San Francisco,
California, many African-American families rarely go camping. His research finds that more
than 90 percent of campers are white and that African-Americans are least likely to go camping
compared to other races. Rue Mapp an entrepreneur from the University of California, Berkeley,
created a website called Outdoor Afro to help reunite African-Americans with nature. Outdoor
Afro is a social media and in-person community that inspire African-American connections to
nature. According to Mapp, the Outdoor Afro website has about 10,000 people engaging and the
Facebook page gets about 80,000 views. Despite the huge numbers, the National Park Service
says that one percent of park visitors across the country are African-American.
According to the American Press Institute, most African-Americans receive the majority of their
news from social networking. The same study shows that most African-Americans get that news
using their smartphone. If there was a way to utilize modern technology to help bring in more
African-Americans to nature parks such as the FWNC&R, it will greatly increase diversity and
awareness. For both studies, African-Americans enjoy finding information over the internet
whether it is social media or surfing the web on their smartphone.
Other Facts about Fort Worth Parks:
 The total number of parks in Fort Worth equals to 263.
 There are about 11,000 acres of parkland in Fort Worth.
 Fort Worth’s Parks and Community Services Department will be raising fees for several
facilities for 2014-2015
Competitors
 Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
 Forth Worth Zoo
 Fort Worth Botanic Garden
 Tandy Hills Park and Nature Area
One major thing that the competitors of the FWNC&R do well is better utilization of the
internet. The websites for the Fort Worth Zoo and Fort Worth Botanic Garden both look
more inviting to an audience compared to the FWNC&R. Also, there are more options to
navigate through compared to the Nature Center website. The Fort Worth Zoo and Fossil
Rim Wildlife Center also have a Wikipedia page which is a plus. Social media is another
place where the Nature Center lacks in. Competitors such as the Fort Worth Zoo and Fort
Worth Botanic Garden utilize their social media sites often. Despite the minimum internet
usage, the Nature Center does not lack in size and content. Being one of the largest nature
centers in the nation, the FWNC&R has plenty to offer. From hiking trails to kayaking, the
Nature Center has a plethora of activities for people to enjoy. The FWNC&R seems to be a
combination of their competitors but with much more acres of land. With a variety of
different animals, plants and nature trails, it sure beats the simplicity of their competitors.
Target Audience

3.  African-American Families
 Working Class ($15k-$25k)
 Middle Class ($32k-$50k)
 Upper Middle Class ($72k-$100k)
 Schools
 Elementary
 Middle school
 High school
 College
 Millennials
 Recreational Enthusiasts
 Hikers
 Runners
 Bird Watchers
 Kayakers
Objectives
 Increase the amount of visitors by 10 percent by spring of 2016.
 Increase diversity by 10 percent by spring of 2016.
 Increase the awareness of the Nature Center by 10 percent by spring of 2016.
 Increase website traffic by the end of 2015.
 Better inform new and old members of upcoming programs through email and online ads.
Key Message
 The FWNC&R is devoted providing a wonderful experience for all ages and to educate
people on the many different aspects of nature.
Strategies
The following strategies will help demonstrate the methods used to help convey the key message
of the Fort Worth Nature Center to the target audience.
 Creating a more family orientated website to help gather more families. Creating a search
function and improving the user-friendliness of the FWNC&R website.
 Implement contests to help increase the audience of recreational enthusiasts such as
hikers and runners. Prizes such as gift cards or discounted admission to future Nature
Center events.
 Use social media often to release news and events about the FWNC&R.
Tactics
Objective 1
Employ mobile apps to reach out to the African-American demographic. According to the
American Press Institute, African-Americans receive the majority of their news on their
smartphone.
Tactics:

4.  Partnering with a well-known app company to help build an app.
 Creating a mobile version of FWNC&R website for functionality on smartphones.
 Make sure to have the app available for all major phone operating systems such as
Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play.
 Have the app be able to have the basic features of the online website such as signing up
for classes, newsletters, and videos.
 Another app should be created for recreational enthusiasts; the app will feature
information for each enthusiast. For example, for bird watchers, the app will include
information on the variety of birds found the refuge. Hikers and runners will be able to
use the app to find shortcuts to use at the refuge or to track the kilometers they ran.
Objective 2
Improve overall website design by implementing a more user-friendly website.
Tactics:
 Employ a search function so users can navigate through the website easier.
 Make the website more interactive by creating a more colorful and inviting look, nature
themed as well.
 Provide new pictures and videos for the site.
 Provide a better connection of the FWNC&R site with its sister site Friends with the Fort
Worth Nature Center.
 Provide more options under the main tabs on the website.
 Revamp each page on the site by creating a new modern look to the entire site.
Objective 3
Make use of the social media sites, they are very important to bring in audiences.
Tactics:
 Posting new events and programs to social media followers to help increase awareness.
 Interaction with people through YouTube or Twitter will help bring in newcomers and
diversify attendance.
 Interacting with social media will help build credibility for FWNC&R as it will help
make the audience trust you.
 Posting videos on YouTube about different animal habitats or nature environments will
help educate the audience before they make their visit.
 Using all major social media outlets to reach the masses. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube, etc. There is a good chance someone may only use one social media site, by
utilizing most of the social media sites you are bound to reach someone.
 To bring in more followers, the Nature Center should post invitations to free events on
their Facebook or Twitter to help raise awareness for the refuge.
 Having guest speakers from the Nature Center come to schools and universities to speak
about the refuge to help encourage awareness and bring followers to their social media
sites.
Objective 4
Becoming more well known among other nature centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.
Tactics:

5.  Become more popular in the local area. Doing this, you will need to improve the website
and making use of social media to sell your brand.
 Being mentioned as a top nature center in the Fort Worth area.
 Bring more buzz around the Buffalo Boogie. Being that that the Buffalo Boogie is one of
the main events for the Nature Center, creating ads or commercials will help increase
awareness for the Nature Center.
 Using current members as aids to help bring increased awareness. Giving membership
discounts or admission passes to events for current members who are able to invite a new
member to the Nature Center.
 The FWNC&R should submit itself to different awards such as best hiking trails in the
Fort Worth area, best tourist attractions in Fort Worth and best nature centers in Texas to
name a few.
 By submitting to more awards or honors, will help create recognition for the Nature
Center. With the plethora of different wildlife aspects that the refuge holds it should not
be difficult to get recognition with the right advertising. Competing for the best 5k runs,
kayaking events or best hiking trails should help increase awareness of the center.
Controlled Media
 Flyers
 Brochures
 Fact sheets
 Photos
 New Releases
 Website info
 Social media
Evaluation
 Generating a more diverse audience, specifically the African-American audience, will
depend on how we advertise our app as well as how good the app is.
 Increased visitors will be measured on how we inform people, whether it is through e-
mail, social media or the Nature Center website.
 Increased awareness will be measured by social media followers and attendance.
 Becoming better known will depend on media coverage and how well we advertise
ourselves.
Rationale
Executing these tactics will help increase awareness for the FWNC&R and help to build strong
credibility with their audience. First and foremost by using a more technological approach,
meaning using social media, creating apps and revamping their website will help bring in more
Millennials. As the world is today, technology has advanced so much that if you don’t try to
utilize it you will get left behind. Competitors such as the Forth Worth Zoo or Fossil Rim
Wildlife Center have updated Twitter lately and give updates to their followers. This is where the
FWNC&R truly lacks and I believe with them catching up with the internet craze, they will truly
compete with other nature centers in the area.