2005 Education & Outreach Newsletter

‘It’s Been A Long Time Coming’ for Natural Resource Education Messages

By David Moore

In October 2004, Director Ryan Broddrick asked a statewide meeting of DFG education services personnel to bring forth a set of education messages that would best serve our management objectives. And in spring 2005, the culmination of thinking and process produced its harvest with final messages being vetted among DFG Deputy Directors and advisors.

Full text of NREM document

To best understand the full curing process, however, one needs to go back to the DFG Education Summit in San Francisco in 2002. It was here that participants first began development of DFG conservation messages for long-term strategic application. Message refinement continued with the Environmental Stewardship Think Tank process in 2003 and 2004. The top natural resource education themes that have ultimately surfaced are the result of extensive cooperative efforts pursued internally and inclusive of input from external partners.

Five themes have been identified in the document Natural Resource Education Messages (NREM) that is intended for broad departmental use as a tool to promote concise, consistent public outreach. The message themes are grouped immediately below into “what” and “why” categories in order to maximize accessibility to department staff who would apply them. Note also that DFG objectives in the examples featured farther below are paired with opportunities for citizen participation.

5 Natural Resource Education Message themes:

DFG management objectives	Why resource management matters
Responsible Recreation Safe Human/Wildlife Interaction Conservation and Protection of Wildlife and Habitat	Valuing Our Natural Heritage The Importance of Biodiversity

One example of bulleted concepts used with a theme (excerpted here) illustrates a portion of specific message content:

Responsible Recreation

DFG objectives:

• Promote fishing, hunting, and wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities to connect Californians to the most diverse natural resource heritage in the nation

Citizen Participation:

• A variety of conservation and recreation groups continue to play an important role in ensuring the protection of habitats and associated recreational opportunities.

Practice responsible outdoor recreation.

• Conserve our wild heritage now, and enjoy it always.
• Take no more than what you can use in a reasonably short period of time, but never more than your limit when fishing or hunting. You don’t always have to take your limit.

It is suggested that three key concepts be woven into use with message outreach. These include promotion of citizen responsibility, encouragement of direct public involvements within the natural resources of California (e.g., hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, restoration, education), and, finally – importantly – creation of public awareness of resource issues and fostering sustainable behaviors with regard to conservation and protection of California’s natural resources.

The above example is a snapshot of what is portrayed in the document. Each of the remaining NREM themes is developed separately.

It has been a passionate labor for many involved in the process to bring NREM into its final form. Special thanks to Messages Subcommittee members Robin Madrid, David Moore, Kenton Parker, and Ethan Rotman.

Full text of NREM document