Promoting Community Involvement and Opinion Leadership in Protection of the Salt Marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

The report evaluates the "Salt Marsh Stories" program's impact on four focal audiences: Audubon members, higher education students/faculty, and business and faith communities in Maryland's Eastern Shore. Baseline data shows that salt marshes and sea level rise are generally non-salient issues, with significant uncertainty regarding sea level rise. However, the experiential program—specifically the planting of native grasses—successfully increased place attachment, knowledge, and emotional engagement. The study identifies place attachment and affinity for nature as the strongest predictors of a participant's intent to communicate about these issues to others.

• Salt marshes and sea level rise are not salient issues for most of the target audiences. Substantial portions of higher education, business, and faith communities report they are not knowledgeable about or do not think about salt marshes, and nearly half of these groups never discuss the topic.
• There is significant attitudinal uncertainty regarding sea level rise, which is notably higher than uncertainty regarding general climate change. Only 48% of baseline respondents are very or extremely sure that sea level rise is currently occurring along Maryland's coastlines.
• Place attachment to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and a general affinity for nature are the most consistent and strongest predictors of an individual's involvement in the issue and their likelihood to act as a conservation communication leader.
• The "Salt Marsh Stories" experiential program successfully increased participants' certainty and knowledge. Trip participants were more certain that sea level rise is occurring (74%) compared to the baseline survey (48%).
• Emotional engagement, particularly during the planting of native grasses, is strongly linked to a participant's intent to communicate about the salt marshes. The most influential emotions for this intent are feeling inspired, excited, motivated, entertained, and breathtaken.
• Audubon members exhibit distinct characteristics compared to other audiences, including higher nature relatedness, more biospheric values, greater knowledge of salt marshes, and higher certainty regarding sea level rise.
• The business community in Dorchester and Talbot counties is the least aware of sea level rise and the least convinced of its local relevance, despite being among the groups most at risk due to their proximity to low-lying coastal lands.

APA

Akerlof, K. (2016). Promoting Community Involvement and Opinion Leadership in Protection of the Salt Marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pickering_Creek_Report_ALL_071116VF.pdf

Chicago

Akerlof, Karen. Promoting Community Involvement and Opinion Leadership in Protection of the Salt Marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Center for Climate Change Communication, 2016. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pickering_Creek_Report_ALL_071116VF.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Akerlof |first1=Karen |title=Promoting Community Involvement and Opinion Leadership in Protection of the Salt Marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge |publisher=Center for Climate Change Communication |date=July 2016 |url=https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pickering_Creek_Report_ALL_071116VF.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{akerlof2016promoting, author = {Akerlof, Karen}, title = {{Promoting Community Involvement and Opinion Leadership in Protection of the Salt Marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2016}, month = jul, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pickering_Creek_Report_ALL_071116VF.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }