Supporters, Activists, and Partners: Strategies to Forge Stakeholders Partnerships and Optimize Environmental Community Outreach Programs

Throughout the Spring of 2015 an in-depth quantitative analysis of stakeholders throughout the Grand Lake watershed was conducted on behalf of the Grad Lake Watershed Alliance Foundation (GLWAF). GLWAF’s mission is to protect the water quality within the 10,298 square mile Grand Lake watershed located across the 4-state region, within portions of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The watershed is the principle water source that is relied upon by nearly 1 million residents in the region. The watershed has regional and national economic importance but lacks the financial commitment necessary to prevent further degrading of water quality. The project was designed to assist the Grand Lake Watershed Alliance Foundation by: (1) producing an exhaustive comparative analysis of similar Foundations (2) identifying key stakeholder groups throughout the watershed for future collaborative initiatives; (3) developing a concept and testing message-based educational materials regarding environmental risks/dangers across the region; and (4) developing fundraising and outreach mechanisms to assist the organization’s future efforts to cultivate strategic regional corporate and private partnerships. This research utilizes standardized scales to assess participants’ knowledge, attitudes, pro-social environmental behaviors, and beliefs toward the emerging environmental risks facing the watershed. This project extends Mason & Triplett’s (2015) line of research that focuses on pragmatic communication strategies to both inform and protect stakeholders in the watershed region who are continually impacted by persistent and pervasive environmental threats, such as blue-green algae. Our poster presentation summarizes the report of findings and discusses implications and future stakeholder management strategies to assist communities who must adapt to the regional environmental changes that are reducing water quality