Background/Question/Methods Improving surface water quality in rural and urbanizing communities by disseminating knowledge and providing tools that improve land use decision making is the aim of this project.   The target audience is secondary educators, science students and their parents, and community members in a degraded and rapidly urbanizing watershed.   We contend that current education and extension efforts could be improved by identifying knowledge gaps and misperceptions among current and future streamside landowners in the risk-based context of these watersheds.   The knowledge gaps are identified through a mental models research approach.   This approach is based on an in-depth assessment of the beliefs, or "mental model" that affects how an individual defines a problem and makes decisions about issues.  First the extensive knowledge of twenty experts, representing a variety of perspectives on watershed/stream health, was synthesized into an expert model.   We then conducted mental model interviews with a target population of sixty high school students and their parents, as well as twenty community members to assess their knowledge gaps regarding watershed/stream health.

Results/Conclusions The expert model allowed for the expression of knowledge on complex issues regarding the protection of streams/watersheds in an urbanizing region.   It also provided the opportunity for experts to reflect on their personal gaps in knowledge, practices, and education/outreach efforts.   Several patterns emerged from this “meta-analysis“ regarding the state of health in streams/watersheds including the lack of effective communication of stream/watershed health, the “invisibility of streams in urbanizing watersheds, the challenges associated with making recommendations to landowners concerning stream health, the personal nature of making land use/land management decisions, and some strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to education and outreach.   Knowledge gaps are currently being identified by an analysis of similarities and differences between the mental models of the students, parents, and community members and the comprehensive expert model.   The results of this analysis will be discussed.   Ultimately knowledge gaps will be remediate through an infused watershed-based curriculum in the partner school system and tailored on-going web support for landowner decision making and development of streamside land management plans for community members.   It is expected that a better understanding of these gaps, and the associated beliefs and perceptions of this target group may illuminate ways to improve both educational efforts and inform landowner decision making, with the end goal of encouraging land conservation and reducing stream impairment caused by habitat alteration