2004 Education & Outreach Newsletter

Partners Climb to a Stewardship Summit

Summer, 2004

The campus at Cal State University Sacramento was recently abuzz with activity from an Environmental Stewardship Summit hosted by the Department of Fish and Game. Participants from a broad variety of organizations came together to hear, discuss, and act on long-awaited results from a six-month Stewardship Think Tank. This partnership research and analysis had been orchestrated by the department in order to refine best outreach strategies for reaching the public with conservation education messages.

Four active, intra-agency work groups that grew out of last fall’s initial meeting of partner organizations at Rancho Jamul were on campus and eager to share the recommendations they’d diligently explored. A number of great ideas were laid out in culminating presentations and received enthusiastically by the Stewardship Summit audience gathered for the event. Participants were able to give and get instant feedback on the ideas presented by pairing up to use a linked series of laptop computers. The innovative use of technology was a hit and provided invaluable, in-depth assessment.

Agreement was virtually universal on the value and promise in promoting public understanding of “biodiversity” and educating California audiences about how regulatory guidelines, partnership projects, and personal

actions help sustain California’s biodiversity. From one proposal to chronicle materials on marine living resources to another centered on adapting DFG’s Atlas of the Biodiversity of California for classroom use, the “biodiversity” theme seemed to serve as an umbrella concept bringing together a number of options. Popular also was a suggested strategy for DFG employees to get out into the field and interact with the public at venues such as public boat ramps or on DFG lands. This concept was dubbed as “Wildlife Wednesday” and would encourage all employees to help make the public more aware of the services and role of the department despite the cutbacks which are now limiting our exposure and visibility in many aspects of the department’s work.

Organizations involved to date in the planning process include DFG, State Parks, National Park Service, Cal EPA, US Forest Service, USFWS, Calif. Waterfowl Association, Calif. Wildlife Foundation, San Diego State University, Humboldt State University, Natural Resources Defense Council, Adopt-A-Watershed and others. Summit participant partners weighed in on such issues as how we may improve communication with representatives in the California legislature to gain increased support for resource management and the department’s public trust mission as well as outreach to promote public stewardship. Expanding outreach to non-traditional audiences in the state including connecting with the growing Hispanic population was a subject of discussion.

Because the work group efforts were research based, strategies were delivered in some detail including an outline of specific ways to conduct social marketing efforts to make an outreach campaign centered on California families most effective. A community-based

social marketing campaign would be used to promote a specific behavior change amongst California families. This marketing strategy would focus on changing a negative or neutral behavior to promote a positive behavior (ie. pack out what you pack in, leave no trace behind, etc.) Subsequent review by DFG’s Education Advisory Committee looked at how social marketing may have useful application on the burgeoning issue of urban wildlife encounters, especially in outreach to residential areas and school districts in communities where the interface has resulted in conflicts.

Other features of the Environmental Summit included a luncheon address from Dr. Emilyn Sheffield of Chico State University. Her overview of trends in outdoor recreation reflected views of emerging generations of Californians who are increasingly not pursuing traditional recreational pursuits like hunting and fishing, especially among the younger population. Her presentation provided

the impetus for the assembled group to examine the need to expose the younger generation in particular to traditional outdoor sports and those that demonstrate the value of fish and wildlife habitat protection. Participants were also treated to a panel discussion concerning the future of stewardship education in California. The panel included Bill Andrews (Dept. of Education), Richard Cuneo (vintner and Ducks Unlimited legislative advocate), Heather Castillo (bi-lingual environmental educator), Heather Chase (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation program director), and our own Sonke Mastrup, Chief Deputy WIFD.

Opportunity to advance stewardship of California’s resources attracts the pro-active involvement of others, and this can make our job of protecting California’s living resources more doable. Many allied agencies and organizations share a goal of bringing conservation messages that promote appropriate behaviors to audiences across the state. Fortunately, these same organizations also express a willingness to partner with us in planning and producing educational outreach strategies to accomplish this objective.