One thing I love about environmental education/nature interpretation is that it combines a bunch of stuff I like and am good at. You can see that in my latest project, an interpretive package on black and turkey vultures for Bluestem Conservation Cemetery and funded in part by a grant from the Environmental Educators of North Carolina. Juanita Wrenn of Wrennworks handled all the design and illustration. This project is the first in Bluestem's Everyday Conservation initiative.
If you actually read the materials, it'd be great if you completed our 3-question evaluation. Thanks!
Interpretive signage: Vultures in our community
People have a lot of mostly bad feelings about vultures, especially at a cemetery. To help them see these amazing avians in a different light, we showcase the birds' ecological and cultural role. The banner hangs at the barn next to a map of the property and other information. We also created downloadable PDFs and audio files in English and Spanish for the website. A QR code posted nearby guides people to these additional assets.
Volunteer training
To increase our volunteers' knowledge about the birds, I did a short presentation introducing Everyday Conservation, unveiling the poster and sharing facts with the crew. The session engaged them in our interpretation efforts, got them excited about these cool birds and empowered them to share information with visitors on the preserve. Information on the signage along with links to the online assets were shared with volunteers who couldn't make the training.
Public outreach: Articles
It was important to me to people beyond Bluestem with the hope of changing their minds about vultures and encouraging them to visit the property. I secured a guest blogging opportunity with one of our conservation partners, Triangle Land Conservancy, for a post on vultures' cultural and spiritual roles historically and in the present, with particular focus on their symbolic meaning at our conservation cemetery. This venue got our message in front of TLC members and site visitors who share our conservation values but may not be familiar with vultures' contributions beyond processing carrion.
I also landed a guest posting opportunity on a local radio station's popular website. Orange County has a dearth of local media outlets and WCHL is not only an on-air news source but a valuable resource for local opinions via its Chapelboro.com community website. This was an important outlet because it reaches a broad audience, especially in the southern part of the county (Bluestem is in the far northern part), and because it has reported on neighborhoods where vultures roost and residents were unhappy about it. My column focused mainly on the birds' ecological value alongside some information on their cultural significance.
Social media: Vultures are cool
We capitalized on International Vulture Awareness Day (6 September) with a set of social media tiles for Bluestem's Instagram and Facebook feeds, including a three-image post and a single-image story. The posts are based on the banner and share facts and identification tips. The assets are designed to be evergreen, so they can be reposted on IVAD each year.
Evaluation
To assess the effectiveness of the package, we created a 3-question online survey, accessed via a QR code on the banner and in the social media posts, a link in the articles and on paper (for the training only).
The results are still coming in, but after one week of being live:
- 42% of respondents said they learned something new about vultures
- 24% said they felt more positively about them.
- 77% found the entire article or poster helpful; 23% found the fast facts most useful
Interested in interpretive content for your site or project? Email me!