Living with the shoreline: education for property owners

As over 90% of shoreline parcels in San Juan County are in private, residential ownership, shoreline property owners are critical caretakers of marine habitats. Information that is provided directly to shoreline property owners can be beneficial to all who enjoy the resources provided by our marine habitats. And in our changing climate, shoreline property owners’ actions can also help improve resilience to the impacts ahead. So, how do you educate shoreline landowners in a manner that engages and inspires them toward positive choices? Friends of the San Juans took on this challenge and created an attractive, positive, and engaging booklet to mail to all waterfront property owners. The Living with the Shoreline stewardship guide uses professional photography, new art, fun facts, and quotes from waterfront owner “peers” to educate and explain why healthy management decisions are both good for the property and for the marine ecosystem. The text focused on the positives of natural management choices and tried to provide an action element. A landowner survey that offered expert site visits was mailed along with the stewardship guide; there was a 12% return on the surveys with over 50 people interested in site visits and/or more information on permanent shoreline protection. The new artwork from the guide was also used on an interpretive panel that is prominently on display at the Port of Friday Harbor. Friends of the San Juans is following up with landowner’s who returned the survey by providing technical site visits to both reduce demand for new armor and identify potential restoration projects, and also conducting landowner meetings with those interested in shoreline easements. The presentation will describe communication tips and lessons learned from Friends decades of work with landowners while sharing messaging and the artwork from the recent publications. This will work as a snapshot or as regular oral presentation