Wildlands and Woodlands research: Conservation impact from local parks to Capitol Hill

Background/Question/Methods

The growing body of research on socio-ecological challenges such as climate and land use change has great potential to inform and even transform public and government opinion. When research sites produce synthesis publications to engage a general and professional audience, a formal communications strategy is needed to maximize impact and inspire subsequent action. Here we present the first full year of Harvard Forest's broadly impactful communications strategy for Wildlands and Woodlands: A Vision for the New England Landscape (W&W) – a research-based, regional forest conservation vision authored by 20 scientists and released to the public in May 2010.

 

Results/Conclusions

Over the past year, a phased roll-out strategy for Wildlands and Woodlands has brought great visibility to the research and mission of the project. In the two weeks following its public release, W&W generated more than 100 local, regional, and national media stories, including positive editorials in every New England state. In its first two months online, the W&W website garnered an average of 62 visits per day from 35 countries on 5 continents. A growing network of more than 60 conservation organizations and agencies now meets quarterly to advance the W&W vision and thousands of forest acres have been conserved. W&W authors have presented the report in more than two dozen briefings, presentations, and workshops, covering a geographic range from Michigan to Maine to Venice, and addressing audiences from private landowners to U.S. Senators.  The W&W approach is increasingly being applied by conservation professionals and state/federal policymakers as a model for landscape scale conservation. New regional and national research projects employ W&W in future scenarios modeling and monitoring protocols. Communications strategies leading to these impacts are outlined here and include: investment from private foundations, pre-release stakeholder engagement, a widely distributed media advisory and press webinar, strong collaboration with university and NGO communications offices, a public release event, regular research updates, and sustained, relevant efforts to engage stakeholders from public, private, and non-profit sectors.