ANREP 2022

Concurrent Breakout Session 3

Track 1 - Audience Needs & Assessment 

Understanding Maryland landowner’s relationship with wildlife: habitat, damage, economics, and easements

Luke Macaulay - University of Maryland Extension

Wildlife is consistently ranked as one of the highest motivations for owning undeveloped land in the U.S. (Bengston 2011; Ferranto 2011; Metcalf 2010), but we have relatively limited knowledge on the specific actions that landowners take or need information about to better steward their properties.  Our research seeks to deepen our understanding of landowner conservation practices, including gathering information about specific management practices, barriers to adoption, wildlife damage, economic factors, and conservation easements.  This information will serve as a needs assessment to develop a targeted extension and educational program in wildlife management. We are currently conducting a survey of several thousand randomly sampled landowners in Maryland. Given the highly skewed nature of property size ownership (few large landowners, and many small landowners), we are stratifying our sample to ensure robust participation among various size classes of property owners. We will tie the responses to satellite-based land cover maps (USDA Cropland Data Layer) that will provide an independent quantification of land cover on each property to deepen our understanding of how land cover (i.e. forests, agriculture, and grassland) influences conservation and interactions with wildlife.  These results will be used to develop a targeted and prioritized wildlife management extension program for landowners in Maryland that addresses a known need in the community.

This research was made possible by the McIntire Stennis Capacity Grant, which seeks to increase forestry research in the production, utilization, and protection of forestland; to train future forestry scientists; and involve other disciplines in forestry research.

How are Alabama Municipalities Approaching Urban Tree Risk and Addressing Liability Concerns?

Arnold "Beau" Brodbeck - Auburn University

Managing for tree risk and public safety is an important component of municipal tree care programs.  Urban trees provide a number of ecological, economic and social values; however, they can also pose risks and lability concerns when they fail.  In Alabama increasing storm frequency and severity is enhancing the risks of tree failures, which hurricanes Sally and Zeta and countless tornados highlighted in 2020.  Tree failures, most commonly seen during storms, can lead to injury and cause damage to public infrastructure and personal property. This can result in legal actions and negative implications for urban forest management. This study aims at describing how Alabama communities mitigate risks associated with increasing storm frequency and address liability concerns related to trees. The project employed a qualitative research process to elicit emergent themes. Interviews were conducted with participants directly associated with urban forest management in 22 Alabama communities of varying sizes. Among the findings, themes underscored concerns that municipal employees relied heavily on residents for identification of tree risk, but that the average citizen has major limitations in identifying tree issues. Additionally, cities felt too overwhelmed in day-to-day tree maintenance activities to plan for preventative actions that are proven to reduce hazards. Lastly, findings suggested how the responsibility for damage due to tree failure is often separated from the responsibility for tree maintenance itself, raising questions about the adaptive nature of tree maintenance when repercussions for poor risk management are not directly felt.

Open conversations: finding ways to improve communication between family forest landowners and consulting foresters

Jace McCauley - Auburn University

Of Alabama's 23 million acres of forestland, an estimated 13.7 million acres are owned by family forest landowners. Therefore, family forest landowners play a pivotal role in the health, resiliency, and productivity of forests in Alabama. However, less than 30 percent of family forest landowners have used a professional forester, and less than 10 percent have a written management plan. The primary goal of this research is to improve communication between landowners and consulting foresters to increase landowners' awareness and usage of professional forest management.

More information is needed to understand why landowners are hesitant to employ consulting foresters and how satisfied landowners are with services provided by consulting foresters. Concurrently, feedback from practicing consulting foresters can give insight into their services and what landowners can do to help foresters better meet their needs. Therefore, the objectives of face-to-face interviews and web-based surveys are to collect consulting forester perceptions of their professional work, the forestry profession, and management and communication needs. Secondly, collect landowner perceptions of their management and communication needs and quality of service provided by consulting foresters with which they work. Results will provide insight into the consulting forester–landowner, dynamic and aid in reconnecting these parties through improved communication. Developing a better understanding of this relationship dynamic is crucial for navigating these issues. Consulting foresters are essential to the adoption of forestry practices by landowners. A mutual understanding between consulting foresters and landowners is needed in sustaining these crucial open conversations.

Track 2 - Use of Technology using Innovative Approaches

Podcast & Photography

Reconnecting with Nature Through Podcasting

Lara Milligan, Shannon Carnevale - UF/IFAS Extension

Faculty were seeking new and innovative ways to reach Extension clientele when webinars were saturating the internet during COVID. In Florida, residents are dependent on natural resources, but many are unfamiliar with the state’s ecology and ecosystems. “Naturally Florida” was designed to reach these people through short, research-based, and environmentally focused podcast episodes. Faculty record, edit, and release episodes monthly with a total of 5,345 plays since launching on June 21, 2021. Topics covered to date include native and invasive species, stormwater, urban forestry, and fire ecology. The last five podcast episodes have an average download rate of 46 within seven days of release indicating performance better than 50% of podcasts on the market (https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/whats-a-good-number-of-downloads-for-a-podcast/). Furthermore, faculty are reaching a more diverse audience than traditional natural resource Extension programs with greater reach among younger and more male audiences. The 23-44 age group and males make up 67% and 44% of listeners respectively. Podcasts are accessible via the computer or smartphone on a variety of free platforms. While challenging to evaluate, faculty released a special episode with a call for listeners to respond to a brief survey. This episode was listened to by 272 people and faculty received 19 responses for a 7% response rate with 95% of respondents implementing at least one behavior change to support local natural resources. As faculty continue to market and promote the podcast, more listeners will be reached with critical natural resource information, ultimately protecting, and enhancing the local environment. Learn more at www.naturallyfloridapodcast.com

Think like a photographer: how to craft impactful images for natural resource communications

Maranda Miller - University of Wisconsin - Madison

Images are incredibly important forms of communication in our work as Natural Resource Extension professionals. We use images to draw people to our programs, document our work, demonstrate environmental problems, educate, and to impact behaviors.

However, most of us aren’t taught photography skills, and can struggle to get images that communicate the messages we’re trying to share. It’s often said that people that create nice images, “just have the ‘eye’ for photography,” or that “they must have a nice camera,” implying that it’s just the machine that’s responsible for a nice image. But what if I told you it’s not all about the photography equipment, or inherently “having an eye for it,” that matters, but instead it’s a way of thinking? And what if you could learn how to think so you can create impactful images too?

In this presentation, I will provide examples of imagery I create as an outreach specialist and conservation photographer to get you started thinking like a photographer. I’ll reveal a few simple tricks you can learn to use your phone for photos, my tool of choice for my Extension communication images. Importantly, I’ll demonstrate how planning how you’d like to use the image can greatly improve the photos you take. Plus, I’ll touch on some photography basics to help you create visually appealing photos.

This talk is directed towards anyone taking their own images for communications. However, the information could also be applied to guide someone in selecting impactful images from a web search.

Natural Resources University: A collaborative podcast network with international reach

Jarred M. Brooke, Megan L. Gunn, Adam K. Janke, Marcus A. Lashley - Department Natural Resources University of Forestry and Natural Resources/Purdue University

In-person workshops, seminars, field days, and publications are staples of content delivery for extension professionals. But increasingly – especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic – extension professionals are seeking alternative methods to disseminate science-based information to stakeholders. One such method is podcasting. We will explore the creation of a podcast network, Natural Resources University (NRU), as a method to disseminate natural resources information to landowners and land managers. We launched the NRU podcast network, a collection of four podcasts hosted by Extension Specialists at various land-grant universities, with a unifying theme of providing natural resource information to stakeholders. The four podcasts include Deer University, Fire University, Habitat University, and Pond University. Since its launch in December 2020, 62 episodes within NRU have received more than 124,000 downloads across all 50 states and 62 countries. A survey of Habitat University listeners (n=32 respondents) indicated the podcast reached a broad audience (hunters, private landowners, land managers, biologists, and other professionals). The survey also indicated 100% of listeners learned at least a moderate amount about habitat management from the podcast. Respondents owned or managed 30,990 acres and planned to apply the information they learned from the podcast to 80% of that land. By creating a podcast network – as opposed to four unconnected podcasts – we were able to extend the reach of each podcast and broaden the scope of information provided to listeners. Podcasting can effectively disseminate science-based natural resources information to various stakeholders and should be considered more broadly by extension professionals.

Track 3- Innovative Approaches

Traditional and novel impact strategies employed by Extension natural resources programs

Eli Sagor, Angela Gupta - University of Minnesota

Two 20 minute sessions

Most Extension programs serving adult audiences use one of three strategies to achieve meaningful impact. They may be designed to increase outreach or volunteer capacity, to increase learner competency leading to behavior change, or to generate new data to inform research and practice. For example, many Master Volunteer programs build volunteer capacity to disseminate information and educate peer learners. Shortcourses, web-based decision support tools, and webinars are primarily designed to build knowledge and competency leading to changes in target behaviors. Citizen Science programs generate new data to help researchers answer emerging questions.

In the context of a facilitated discussion about Extension program design, we’ll explore these three common program strategies, with examples including both “traditional” and more novel programs. We’ll also discuss recent innovation and evolution within these general models, including mashups and novel combinations of these strategies. A particular focus will be how emerging technologies have opened new avenues for innovation leading to rapid deployment and specific high-value impacts. These include early detection and mapping of invasive species and monitoring phenology and the status of rare wild populations. We will close with an open discussion of the learner perspective on these strategies in the context of the Master Volunteer Life Cycle.

H2OSAV: Water Savings, Analytics, and Verification

Nick Taylor - University of Florida

H2OSAV stands for Water Savings, Analytics, and Verification. It is a collaborative effort, born from the University of Florida/IFAS Program for Resource Efficient Communities and the need to quantify impact. To address that need, H2OSAV uses regularly updated data to understand water use in the past, address issues in the present, and share insights and trends for the future. This statewide Extension program is a powerhouse of partnerships. H2OSAV provides data analytics, research, and extension education that deliver tools and insights to utility providers, builders and developers, government agencies and Extension colleagues to facilitate data-driven decision making and improve water conservation efforts. The H2OSAV program has grown rapidly since it’s inception in 2016. H2OSAV currently houses data for over 20% of Florida’s population, representing over 28% of the water used for public water supply in the state. This presentation will describe the approach, lessons learned and impacts of the H2OSAV program to date.

Track 4 - Partnerships/Collaborations/Stakeholders

Sustaining the Lake Superior Collaborative: Challenges & Opportunities for a Northern Wisconsin Watershed Partnership

Erin Burkett - UW-Madison Division of Extension

The Lake Superior Collaborative (LSC) is a voluntary partnership of conservation organizations working on watershed restoration and climate resilience projects in Wisconsin’s Lake Superior basin (LakeSuperiorCollaborative.org). Extension’s Lake Superior Outreach Specialist coordinates the LSC by facilitating networking and information sharing and convening partners around shared, multi-year watershed goals. The presenter will share examples of landscape restoration projects made possible through collaborative efforts, including Wisconsin’s first natural flood management demonstration project in Ashland County and the ripple effects of a focused commitment to hydrologic restoration and a “slow the flow” approach to reducing sediment loading into the Lake Superior nearshore. This talk will also emphasize the challenges and opportunities of sustaining a multi-county, cross-jurisdictional partnership over the past two years, including securing funding for a permanent coordinator, generating a shared Action Plan, and evaluating partnership impact. Looking ahead, the presenter will also share LSC partners’ goals and priorities for the future.

A road map to restoration: community driven watershed planning on a coastal sea island

Amy Scaroni - Clemson Extension

Like many coastal watersheds across South Carolina, the waterways on and around Edisto Island are affected by pollution from a variety of sources, with fecal bacteria being the primary pollutant of concern. High levels of bacteria have resulted in the closure of shellfish beds to commercial and recreational harvest, which affects both the economy and the deep historic and cultural traditions of the island. Clemson Extension partnered with South Carolina Sea Grant Extension, SC DNR, and a local land trust to assist the community in developing a watershed plan aimed at reducing bacterial pollution.  Creating a community-driven watershed plan for the area was a first step towards reducing pollution and improving water quality for the Edisto community. However, creating a watershed plan was only the initial step; implementing recommendations requires community buy-in, so the project team worked closely with community leaders and sought input from residents at each stage of plan development. We’ll share our perspective on how we combined existing water quality data and GIS data layers with local community knowledge of the watershed to pinpoint pollution hotspots. We’ll also share our lessons learned and highlight key communication recommendations to keep residents engaged and informed as implementation of the plan begins. The completed plan serves as a framework to address pollution sources and sets the stage for protecting the valuable shellfish resources at the heart of the community.

Managing Stormwater in a Changing Florida Panhandle

Carrie Stevenson, Andrea Albertin, Laura Tiu, Sheila Dunning - UF IFAS Extension

The Florida Panhandle has the highest average total rainfall in the state (65”), with rain levels increasing in recent years. Limited and aging stormwater infrastructure has led to legacy water quality and flooding problems across the region.

Local leaders and stakeholders need to better understand how development occurs, its impact on hydrology and water quality, and available solutions to mitigate impacts. 

UF IFAS Extension agents and specialists developed a regional stormwater education program for building technical capacity among stakeholders to incorporate sustainable stormwater management practices in their communities. Our audience included municipal employees, extension colleagues, professional engineers, landscape architects, and residents. 

Programs included an in-person stormwater management workshop in 2019 (22 attendees) and a 2-part webinar series in 2020 (83 attendees) and 2021 (136 attendees). In 2021, 24 attendees received professional CEU’s for attending.

Topics included hydrology and pollutant load dynamics, green infrastructure (GI) and low impact development (LID), local case studies, and funding opportunities, with stormwater infrastructure maintenance, permitting requirements, and planning tools added in 2020-2021. Workshops scheduled for May 2022 will include CEU credits and a collaborative design charrette. 

Post-workshop surveys indicate that participants gained knowledge in one or more topics taught by attending our programs. A 5-month follow-up survey indicated that respondents valued the information they received, used the information in their line of work, and modified decisions related to stormwater management based on information presented.

The annual increase in participation and enthusiasm from stormwater professionals, along with innovative projects designed by those professionals in local municipalities, has shown that these workshops have achieved our objectives.

Track 5 - Special Session

Defining Extension's role and the need for collective action to help meet community needs related to wildfire

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