This presentation was given by Nancy Lawler of the Musconetcong Watershed Association at the 2015 NJ Confluence on 11/13/15.

1. Telling your Watershed
Story…
Nancy Roberts-Lawler
Musconetcong Watershed Association
WITH REPORT CARDS!!

2. What Would You Do?

3. ?

4. Nice Idea, But…
How long does it take to figure out where the bottles go?

5. Our World

6. Once upon a time…
VM Collected Data
– Engage & Educate Public
– To understand our river
• Current year and trends
• Baseline vs restoration
• Basis for advocacy
– Elicit public project support
– Cost low but still…
– Were we answering a need?

7. Who Read the Report?
• Executive Director
• 2 highly committed
volunteers
….What were we doing
wrong?

8. What We Wanted
I’m replacing
my lawn
with native
plants!
Our
citizens
should
test their
wells!
Our data shows that
the % sensitive bugs is
declining, average nitrates
are 3.0mg/l , the RBP
Habitat Score is under 100!Time to
create a
septic
ordinance!
MWA

9. Our Audience
Puedo comer
la trucha?
Should I
drink
bottled
water?
Our data shows that
the % sensitive bugs is
declining, average nitrates
are 3.0mg/l , the RBP
Habitat Score is under
100!
Why aren’t
you collecting
data by the
Walmart?
MWA

10. Revelation

11. Is the Public Listening to Our Story?

12. Are We Giving Our Audience What
They Need?

13. Water Monitoring World Focus
Collect
Credible Data
Communicate
Problem or Question Study Design to Answer
Question
Analyze Data
Process into
Information
ACTION?

14. Focus Needed
Collect Credible Data
Communicate
to Target
Audience
Listen to
Community
Questions
Study Designed to Answer
Question
Analyze Data
Process into
Information
Community needs
ACTION!

15. Typical Source for the Audience
Audience Type
Scientific
Management
Decision makers
Public
Source
Primary/documentation
Technical Documents
Summary Reports, NJGeoWeb
Newspaper articles, TV, Social
media!

16. Typical Source for the Audience
Audience Type
Scientific
Management
Decision makers
Public
Source
Primary/documentation
Technical Documents
Summary Reports, NJGeoWeb
Newspaper articles, TV, Social
media!
REPORT NOT PICKED UP BY
MEDIA!!

17. Back to the Drawing Board
• Action desired should
relate to mission
• Our mission: protect &
restore our river
• We want readers to
HELP US protect &
restore!!

18. Start at the End of the Story
• What did we want
people to do or feel?
– Identify MWA as credible
information source
– MWA cares about them
– Identify challenges AND
SOLUTIONS
– EMPOWER THEM to help
raise the water quality!
• How were we going to
communicate that?

19. Report Card Prototypes
Kawartha
http://www.kawarthaconservation.com/reportcard/2013KawarthaReportCard.pdf
Nanticoke
http://nanticokeriver.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2013-Nanticoke-RR-Final.pdf
Baltimore Harbor
http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ian_report_card_448.pdf
Mystic River
http://www.epa.gov/mysticriver/pdfs/MysticRiverWatershedReportCardMap2013.pdf
Sacramento River
http://ice.ucdavis.edu/waf/
Mississippi
http://americaswater.wpengine.com/reportcard/
Chesapeake
http://ian.umces.edu/ecocheck/report-cards/chesapeake-bay/2013/

20. NJDEP Fresh Water & Biological

21. Why Report Cards?
• Give air of authority
• People understand
purpose
– Easy to read
– People understand
grades. layout
• But…Hardly ever
includes direction for
improvement

22. Maybe More Engaging Content?
• Value of watershed
• Measurement explanations
• Value of data for
– Wildlife
– People
• Easy to Read
• Visually interesting
• Give direction
• Easy to re-use format (¢)

23. When Developing Content, Consider…

24. What Parameters Tell Story?
• Samples
– All (DO,Temp, pH, NO3,
Macros, Habitat)
– Easiest to understand?
– Most relevant to audience
• What metric?
– Averages, min/max
– Scores
– Statistics
• Graphs
– Points
– Trends
– Site Comparisons

25. Does Format Support Goal?
• In tables
• Assessments
– Grade (A -F)
– Evaluation (Excellent/Poor)
• Grades goal-oriented
– Fishing, swimming,
drinking
– Standards/criteria oriented
• DO/Temp, TP, NO3
• macroinvertebrate index
“C” is average!
We are typical!

26. Concern: TMI=Confusion

27. What should it look like?
• Entice people to read?
• Attractive
– Cover?
– Font?
– Color?
– How many pages?
– Layout
– How to fit?
– Pictures
– Photos?

28. Hire Professional Communicators:
Artists!

29. Hire A Creative Team
Editor/Writer
• You develop content
• Independent editor
– Improves readability
– Keeps consistent
– Help you reach audience
• Proofreading is not editing
• BTW: Word--grammar, also
readability stats
Graphic Artist
• More professional looking
• Favorable impression
• May wish to consider
– Data visualization specialist
– Illustrator

30. Creative Team Considerations
• Professional vs student
• Understand your issues?
• Copyright/Contract
• Time
• Who will Proofread?
– Copy
– Graphics & placement
– Photos
• Final Draft-Who has control?

31. MWA Report Card Content
• Cover
• Introduction
– Report basis
– Links to more
information
• Map of site locations
• Environmental
Indicators
• Site Report Cards
• Conclusion—first steps!

32. Map: Where nearest site?
• Sites-
– Roads
– Municipalities
– Read in color /B&W
• Options
– Satellite?
– Symbols?
– Color?
• Impervious surface?
• Forest coverage

33. Introduction
• Who
• What
• When
• How
• For more information…

34. Actions to Improve
Each Environmental Indicator
• Three to four actions
• Icons
– Planting
– Seek expert advice
– Replace when able
– Change practice
• Designed for focus

35. To Control Parameter, Which Actions?
• Parameters
– Source & Importance
– Control options
• MWA chose
– Temperature (Max)
– Nitrates (Average)
– Aquatic Life (Score)
– Habitat (Score)
Sub-optimal
temperature
Improve riparian
buffer
Sub-optimal
nitrates
Test well, maintain
septic system, test
well

36. Site Report
• Photos
– Shot in same direction
– With people best
• Assessment with
graphics
• Site Meaning & Actions
– Site value
– What are challenges
– Recommendations

37. Grading System
• Concern-
– “Good” or “B”= INACTION
– “Poor” or “F”=Fear or GIVE UP
• Kept Optimal, Sub-optimal,
Fair, Poor
• Icon for each Grade
OPTIMAL SUB-OPTIMAL
MARGINAL POOR

38. Conclusion
• Actions for residents/municipalities
– Increasing buffers
– Decreasing impervious pavement
– Could take years
• Interim actions
– Work with MWA
– Look for grant $$
– Encourage small steps

39. Don’t Forget…
• Direct to links
• Direct to partners
• Footnotes
• Mention funder…
• Release to public
• Pre and Post Survey

40. What Is Your Story??