About the project

Through a 2020 catalyst project, university, reserve, and restoration practitioners partnered to understand social perceptions of saltmarsh restoration in Oregon to identify ways to better incorporate socially relevant information in restoration metrics, increase outreach efficacy and, ultimately, improve restoration success.

About this resource

This document summarizes findings from this catalyst project and distills the most pertinent information for restoration practitioners and land managers. It highlights discrepancies between public values and how project outcomes are measured via ecological metrics and offers suggestions to improve communication with community members, such as adjusting the project design, approach to assessment, and/or changing the focus of community outreach efforts. The document also includes a summary of personas, or archetypes, identified during three focus groups that involved natural resource managers, landowners, and local residents in Oregon. Included in each persona description are the values associated with that persona, and messaging that can be used to reach people who identify with that persona. More details about the personas that were identified during the focus groups can be found in this slide deck (PDF).