Barrier 3: Constituents may not recognize the threats facing fish and wildlife, habitats, and humans or how to engage to address the threats

Feb 10

The public often lacks an understanding of the threats to fish and wildlife and their habitats and the role humans play. Contributing to the challenge are the growing disconnection between people and wildlife, media coverage often focused on 10-second sound bites and conflict, and the ability for inaccurate information or glorified bad behavior to go viral through social media. Furthermore, engaging with any government bureaucracy can be frustrating to the public when they have to navigate a myriad of processes and procedures that are confusing and unfamiliar.

Strategy 1: Connect constituent concerns for human quality of life to the threats facing fish, wildlife, and their habitats and provide transparent, productive, consistent ways for constituents to engage.

Conservation agencies protect and manage millions of acres of land that have the dual function of providing habitat for wildlife as well as providing ecosystem services to ensure there is clean air and water, flood protection, erosion control, and open space. Studies show that having green space in close proximity where people live can promote an active and healthy lifestyle. Many species of wildlife provide economic benefits, such as insect control by bats which is estimated to provide $3.7 billion annually in benefits to agriculture.

Step 1: Develop a better understanding of how concerns about quality of life align with threats to fish, wildlife, and habitats.

Tactic 1: Identify how existing actions to reduce threats to fish and wildlife also benefit human quality of life.

A large percentage of the public does not understand the important contributions agencies make to maintain or improve quality of life. Agencies should seek to make stronger connections between conservation work and the services that broader constituencies need and care about. Food and fiber, clean water and air, protection from storms, open space, and carbon sequestration are just some of the services that are provided by the lands and waters agencies conserve. There are a number of resources that are available to help the public understand the threats to fish and wildlife, including but not limited to State Wildlife Action Plans, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Nature of Americans Report.

By conducting literature reviews, synthesizing existing information, and using social scientists to conduct original research, an agency can gain a better understanding of the public’s concerns and their level of knowledge about threats to fish and wildlife. The Nature of Americans Report and America’s Wildlife Values study are two sources that can provide relevant information.

Constituent culture success story: regional meetings

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources holds Conservation Happenings — a series of regional meetings where diverse conservation partners and stakeholders meet to talk about issues and topics of regional importance and look for ways to collaborate more effectively in the delivery of conservation programs.

Constituent culture success story: wildlife heroes

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has worked to reach new and diverse audiences through a variety of campaigns, partnerships and promotions including the Arizona wildlife heroes campaign.

Step 2: Work with partners to identify opportunities to reduce barriers to broader constituencies' engaging effectively with the agency.

Tactic 1: Inventory and understand existing agency engagement processes.

There are a multitude of ways in which agencies engage broader constituencies. They do this through public meetings, advisory councils, social media, participation in meetings, and agency communications. Those processes should be inventoried to gain an understanding of which segments of the public participate and their level of engagement.

Tactic 2: Learn how broader constituencies prefer to be engaged with their agency and what motivates them to act.

To effectively engage broader constituencies, it is important to understand the method or means by which constituents would like to be engaged with their agency. Constituencies who currently participate may prefer other means or there may be approaches that have not been used that would increase engagement by nonparticipating constituencies. Surveys, listening sessions, or direct inquiry with influencers or constituency leaders could help identify the best method for engagement.

Constituent culture success story: creating efficiencies

Staff of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department used to meet individually with private landowners to discuss and provide instruction in using and applying for Texas’s wildlife tax valuation process. Recently, they piloted workshops to more efficiently reach private landowners. Staff were able to save nine weeks of time annually and thousands of miles of vehicle travel. In postworkshop surveys, participants were unanimous in finding the workshops helpful and very few participants required personal follow-up by staff.

Step 3: Work with partners to identify the most needed and effective engagement activities for constituents to reduce threats to fish, wildlife, and habitats.

Tactic 1: Analyze effective engagement activities that are most likely to be adopted by constituents to reduce threats.

To address key threats to fish and wildlife, an agency should work with partners to identify the engagement activities that are most likely to be adopted by the public. Using partners and tapping into their networks would expand an agency’s reach, reveal a larger suite of activities, and indicate those most likely to be adopted. Communication with constituents will be more effective when it is explicit about how constituent actions will address threats to fish and wildlife.

Tactic 2: Work with partners to develop a suite of specific engagement activities and encourage behaviors ranging from low personal investment to high personal investment through which constituents can influence conservation.

Once effective engagement activities are identified, those activities that are achievable and appropriate for target audiences should be highlighted. The agency should work with partners to encourage actions that can reduce threats to fish and wildlife. Actions should be scalable so that strongly and moderately committed members of the public can contribute. Even actions that have a trivial effect on a threat may yield other benefits such as increased awareness of the effects on fish and wildlife.

Constituent culture success story: visualization

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s Wildlife Action Plan describes threats to fish and wildlife in priority landscapes called Conservation Opportunity Areas. This allows the public to see how these threats affect fish and wildlife at a local scale.

Step 4: Implement activities and programs that foster constituent engagement and behaviors to reduce threats to fish, wildlife, and habitat.

Tactic 1: Implement a stakeholder and media engagement strategy to develop and deliver targeted information and tools to help constituents engage and take action to reduce threats.

A stakeholder engagement strategy can help an agency identify key stakeholders and organizational contacts, as well as opportunities for shared purpose and the approaches or tools that can help people engage and take action to reduce threats. Social media may be the best means to communicate with certain constituencies. Project Engineer has identified five steps to building a stakeholder engagement plan. Agencies should consider using media outlets, including those that may not always provide accurate information or which sensationalize wildlife interactions with the public to help reach diverse audiences.

Tactic 2: Provide support to constituents to help them engage and use the information, tools, and new processes to take action to conserve fish, wildlife, and their habitats.

The agency should provide support to help constituents use the information and tools provided to them to take actions to benefit the natural resources they value. Agencies and partners have staff who can provide technical support, outreach, and programs that incentivize conservation and services that connect people to wildlife.

Tactic 3: Routinely evaluate constituent engagement, information, tools and new processes to ensure desired outcomes are achieved and adapted if necessary.

Public engagement should be measured and monitored so practices can be adapted as needed. Metrics should be determined for tools, communications materials, and processes so their effectiveness can be periodically reviewed and assessed to ensure they are meeting the changing needs of broader constituencies.

© Texas Parks & Wildlife DepartmentAgencies should implement activities and programs that foster diverse constituent engagement and constituent behaviors to reduce threats to fish, wildlife, and habitat. — *© Texas Parks & Wildlife Department*
Agencies should implement activities and programs that foster diverse constituent engagement and constituent behaviors to reduce threats to fish, wildlife, and habitat.