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In Partnership:
Water Resources Center
University of Minnesota Extension
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Water Resources Center
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St. Paul, MN 55108
612-624-9282
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WRC Home > Outreach and Public Engagement > Water Policy and Economics

Minnesota Social Indicators Project

Minnesota is collaborating in the regional social indicators project, but the Minnesota team will also work on tools and methods for NPS concerns that are unique to this state. The Minnesota social indicators team includes staff from both the MPCA and the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center.

Since the May 2007 social indicators (SI) video conference held at the MPCA, the Minnesota SI team has continued to meet regularly with local partners and regional SI team members. During the same time period the Water Resources Center and MPCA developed and approved a new grant proposal. The new grant will support testing of the SI system being developed by the regional team. The purpose of the testing phase is to field-test the SI tools, methods and materials on actual 319 projects in Minnesota. We want to assess whether the system is user-friendly and can accurately collect and analyze data. We also want to identify areas that need further improvement. The testing phase will run from 2008 to 2010.

Staff members of at least six MPCA Section 319 projects expressed an interest in participating in the SI testing phase. A decision was made to begin with smaller-scale projects with limited target audiences during the first year of testing. We will add larger projects as we gain experience with the SI framework. Therefore, the Minnesota NPS projects selected by year are:

2007-2008:

• Duluth Residential Stormwater Reduction project
• Winter Maintenance Training for Reduced Impacts to Water project (snowplow driver training)

2008-2009 (tentative):

• Crow River Organization of Waters (C.R.O.W.), Buffalo MN
• Buffalo MN Detroit Lakes 319 project (MPCA)

2009-2010 (tentative):

• McCarron’s Lake, Roseville MN (Capital Region Watershed District)
• Heron Lake (to be determined)

We are currently preparing an Internet survey of the evaluation practices of NPS projects in Minnesota. A survey invitation from Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) will be sent soon to about 150 NPS project staff asking them to complete a short questionnaire. The survey will focus on the evaluation practices used by NPS project staff. We hope to learn how staff assess whether a target audience’s knowledge, attitudes and practices related to water quality change over time. For example, a local Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) may want to know if people adopt and maintain a best management practice (BMP) that they have promoted. Through this survey we hope to identify gaps and needs in actual evaluation practices, and develop initiatives to support NPS staff when evaluating social outcomes. If you are an NPS project staff member in Minnesota and would like to participate in the survey, please contact Karlyn Eckman (eckma001@umn.edu).

The Minnesota SI team is also working on developing two new supplemental evaluation tools, a KAP (knowledge, attitudes and practices) survey tool, and a participant observation (PO) tool to verify post-project impacts. These tools are intended for smaller NPS projects, especially with target audiences under 200 people. We expect that these tools will be ready for preliminary field testing by April 2008.

The Minnesota SI team plans to organize informal workshops during the testing phase to bring together key staff from local partner projects. The workshops are intended as a “feedback forum” to gain detailed insights and suggestions on the SI framework from intended users.

Meanwhile, the regional SI team is developing a protocol that outlines the overall testing framework. It will be made available shortly. The regional SI team expects to begin state-based testing of the regional web-based SIDMA (Social Indicators Data Management and Analysis system) software in December 2007. Michigan State University is leading the effort on developing and testing SIDMA. A workshop was organized with local partners in Duluth on January 8 2008 to test the SIDMA software. Feedback from this workshop will be shared with the software developers to improve the data management system. The regional team is also re-drafting the social indicators guidebook that will eventually accompany the social indicators system.

For more information, contact:

Karlyn Eckman
Senior Fellow, Water Resources Center
University of Minnesota
E-mail: eckma001@umn.edu
Office Phone: 612-625-6781

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