Using language that resonates with stakeholders is critical to an effective exchange of information. See how a team at the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve investigated and adopted the language preferences of their stakeholders in project-related communication.

Protecting Alabama's Water Quality through Marsh Restoration

The goal of the Protecting Alabama's Water Quality through Marsh Restoration project was to develop a decision-support tool to improve cost-effective marsh restoration efforts along developed estuaries. Facilitated conversations with stakeholders during the initial project workshop made team members realize they needed a better understanding of their stakeholder audience before starting to develop an appropriate decision making tool. To address this need, the team designed and administered a stakeholder survey modeled after The Nature Conservancy’s Language of Conservation Memo to determine end users’ understanding of conservation and restoration concepts, their values about wetland conservation and restoration efforts in the Gulf Coast region, and what terminology had the greatest potential to improve understanding of conservation and restoration efforts in coastal Alabama.