Barrier 2: Broader constituencies do not value the benefits nature provides
A lack of time is cited as the reason why a large segment of the public participates little or not at all in nature activities. Spending time in nature is often a low priority among competing interests such as job-related work, household and family activities, and leisure pursuits such as organized sports and screen time. Helping people understand the positive physical and psychological benefits of time spent in nature offers an opportunity to raise the level of importance of nature-related activities.
Strategy 1: Work with partners to provide opportunities to broaden the spectrum of constituencies who understand the ways in which nature improves their quality of life.
Spending time in nature and the outdoors has a wide range of benefits such as reducing stress, improving memory, increasing happiness, and inspiring creativity, all of which can improve quality of life. Helping people understand these benefits can provide an incentive for people to spend more time outdoors and in nature.
Step 1: Research and define how specific outdoor activities improve quality of life, including economic benefits.
Tactic 1: Conduct a comprehensive review of existing evidence of how nature improves quality of life.
Numerous studies have documented the benefits of spending time in nature. The results of these studies need to be put into context and in a form that is meaningful. Some of this information has been compiled in reports such as the Benefits of Outdoor Skills to Health, Learning and Lifestyle: A Literature Review (AFWA, 2010); the Parks and Other Green Environments: Essential Components of Healthy Human Habitats (Kuo; NRPA, 2010); Home to Us All: How Connecting with Nature Helps Us Care for Ourselves and the Earth (Charles et al.; Children & Nature Network, 2018).
Tactic 2: Identify nature-based values of constituents and how they impact engagement with nature.
The Nature of Americans Report provides descriptions of the nature-based values of people and identified likely points of entry for engagement in nature. An understanding of demographic and geographic differences in values can help inform the approaches needed to engage various constituencies.
Tactic 3: Use social science to understand how broader constituencies are currently engaging with the outdoors and nature.
An agency should enlist the help of social scientists to gain an understanding of how broader constituencies currently engage with the outdoors and nature. This information may be available in the literature or require new research. Consideration should be given to how culture and motivation affects engagement in nature activities, how people decide whether and when to participate, and the networks used to access nature.
Step 2: Work with partners and their networks to communicate with target audiences regarding how engaging in outdoor activities improves quality of life.
Tactic 1: Use social science to identify and define constituency groups.
An agency should use social science to segment broader constituencies into defined groups related to nature-based values, demographics, and geography. Doing so will help an agency design and implement programs that can target outreach and customize programs and services.
Tactic 2: Match proximity and access of outdoor activities to proximity of key broader constituencies.
Agency managed public lands are often in rural areas, away from urban centers. Although this has benefits (i.e., provide safe places to use firearms, offer solitude, lower land acquisition costs, etc.), these areas are less accessible to many broader constituencies because of transportation or time constraints. An agency should seek to match the proximity of outdoor recreation and nature-based opportunities to provide broader constituencies access to nature. This could be accomplished by mapping green spaces, trail networks, sidewalks and other transportation networks to outdoor opportunities.
Tactic 3: Identify partners and avenues to effectively communicate to target constituencies (e.g., industries, community leaders, and influencers).
Agencies should seek to leverage the help of diverse partners including federal, state, provincial and local governments, private organizations, and businesses to communicate how engaging with nature improves quality of life. New partnerships within the health field such as medical institutions, county or state/province health departments, medical insurance companies, etc. could help the agency reach new audiences who want to capitalize on the physical and mental health benefits of time spent in nature and the outdoors.
Constituent capacity success story: peer learning
The Community Connections Academy within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides a forum for Urban National Wildlife Refuge program staff to facilitate communication and sharing of success stories.
Step 3: Work with partners to develop effective audience-specific communications strategies.
Tactic 1: Support or develop expertise and capacity in social science, communications, outreach, education, and marketing within the agency.
To reach new audiences, an agency will need to build new capacity and may need to adapt how some resources are allocated. New or additional expertise in social science, communications, outreach, education, and marketing will help the agency meet growing demands to understand, communicate, and educate broader constituencies.
Tactic 2: Engage social scientists in developing, testing, and evaluating messages before implementing constituent-specific communications campaigns.
Communication is key to reaching broader constituencies and core to communication is using effective messaging. Social scientists should be enlisted to help develop, test, and evaluate messages that can be incorporated into a strategy or campaign to help connect more people with nature.
Tactic 3: Use focus groups for targeted audiences to inform the communications strategy.
Focus groups can be an effective means to understand the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a small group of individuals that can be extrapolated to a larger population. The focus group could be used to test messages or key words, phrases, or imagery that could be part of a communications strategy.
Tactic 4: Identify existing, or develop new, communities of practice that are already developing audience-specific messages and programs.
Joining or establishing a new community of practice to facilitate communications with broader constituencies could help agency staff learn from peers and share learning and best practices.
Step 4: Deliver and test audience-specific communications strategies.
Tactic 1: Identify measurable outcomes associated with specific communications strategies to determine effectiveness.
Measures should be identified, and monitoring conducted, to determine whether goals and outcomes are being met. Monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness will ensure that programs are adapted if needed.
Tactic 2: Identify avenues through which target audiences are currently receiving information.
It is important to know how broader constituencies are getting information and the sources of such information. This will help ensure that the most effective communications tools can be used to deliver messages to target audiences.
Step 5: Work with partners to provide opportunities to access the outdoors and nature.
Tactic 1: Identify gaps between what agencies and partners provide and experiences that broader constituencies seek that would improve their quality of life.
There are likely gaps between the programs and services that agencies and partners provide and the outdoor experiences that broader constituencies seek. Identifying these gaps will help an agency create programs, develop curricula, and provide services it can deliver or support partners in doing so.
Tactic 2: Work with partners to provide access to, and deliver appropriate, outdoor experiences.
Agencies should work with partners to provide access — when feasible — to places that provide quality nature-based experiences. The outdoor experiences that are provided should match the wants and needs of constituencies.
Strategy 2: Work with partners to expand opportunities to increase the diversity of constituencies experiencing positive emotional connections with nature and the agency.
A sense of place or social connection are the result of positive emotional connections that can lead to desired behavioral changes such as respect for nature or desire to engage in stewardship. In today’s increasingly urban world where people have less time for leisure and unstructured activities, it is important to provide convenient opportunities for interactions with nature close to where people live, work, and socialize.
Step 1: Identify nature-related value-based experiences through research and other means that result in positive emotional connections with nature.
Tactic 1: Conduct a comprehensive literature review to compile evidence of the importance of personal emotional connections to places and experiences.
Establishing an emotional connection or bond with nature is important to developing an ethic that can lead to positive behaviors toward the environment. An agency should periodically conduct a review of the literature on personal emotional connections to places and experiences. Home to Us All: How Connecting with Nature Helps Us Care for Ourselves and the Earth (Charles et al., Children & Nature Network, 2018) is a good resource and synthesis of the importance of nature in people’s lives.
Tactic 2: Develop methods to routinely measure program effectiveness.
Measuring program effectiveness is important to understanding whether goals and outcomes are being met and if adaptations are needed. Evaluating the role that events (e.g., sports shows) play versus immersive experiences (e.g., a paddling clinic) in developing nature-based interest, skills and competencies, can help an agency design effective programs. If an agency offers programs as a series with increasing outdoor engagement, an agency may want to track participation through those stages.
Step 2: Identify target audiences, coalitions of partners, and communication networks that could provide value-added outdoor experiences.
Tactic 1: Evaluate how experiences with and without social support networks lead to behavioral changes.
Agencies should compile best practices and successful approaches that lead to the adoption of actions so they can be used to guide the development and implementation of programs that meet the diverse needs of broader constituencies. An understanding of how support structures do, or do not, lead to behavioral change is important to know so leadership and program managers can direct scarce resources appropriately. Evaluation of the causative factors that lead to behavioral change should be conducted so assumptions can be avoided. The Outdoor Recreation Adoption Model is an approach to developing new pathways for constituencies to engage with the outdoors.
Tactic 2: Identify partners that provide outdoor experiences and gauge interest in collaborating.
Partners that provide outdoor experiences should be identified and, to the extent practical, agency programs adapted to facilitate alignment among partner and agency services and programs. Individual, group, or community motivations should be determined, and partners should be empowered to take ownership of programs and services when possible.
Tactic 3: Always leave constituents with the next step to continue and enhance their engagement.
Establishing a new positive emotional connection with nature will not be accomplished through one-and-done program offerings. Broader constituencies should be continually engaged and offered opportunities to take the next step in their journey to connect with nature and the agency.
Constituent capacity success story: adapt infrastructure
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission partners with the Public Access Services Office to plan and develop infrastructure that promotes wildlife-focused recreation opportunities on Florida wildlife management areas. This includes improved wayfinding signage, interpretive materials, recreational trails, and wildlifeviewing destinations
Step 3: Work with partners to develop value-based opportunities to create emotional connections with nature.
Tactic 1: Develop a diversity of opportunities that can be led by, or coordinated with, partners.
The agency should work with partners to provide services and programs to create emotional connections with nature that appeal to a variety of constituencies. Even small contributions by individuals and partners can have meaningful impact. Establishing a sense of place and community increases the chance that people will take meaningful actions.
Tactic 2: Regularly evaluate and adjust programs based on knowledge gained.
Programs should be continually evaluated to ensure positive emotional connections are being created. Overcoming challenges may stretch an agency’s current expertise. It is important to experiment, evaluate and adjust programs accordingly. Efforts should not be abandoned prematurely, as it may take some time to see results.
Step 4: Deliver and test audience-specific communications strategies.
Tactic 1: Identify measurable outcomes associated with specific communications strategies to determine effectiveness.
Measures should be determined, and data collected, to evaluate whether outcomes are being met. Strategies should be tested once they are implemented to ensure they are reaching their targets and accomplishing their goals. Communications strategies should be modified or adapted if needed.
Tactic 2: Identify avenues through which target audiences are currently receiving information.
Agencies should identify how and from where target audiences are currently getting information and such avenues should be used, if possible. If information is not getting to intended audiences, then the methods should be adapted.
© Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Agencies must communicate with target audiences regarding how engaging in outdoor activities improves quality of life. Agencies can provide opportunities for constituents to develop emotional connections with nature.
