Hi all, Shorelines are known as the ‘ribbon of life’ due to the critical role they play in supporting wildlife, filtering out pollutants, decreasing soil erosion, and mitigating flood risks. If you’re looking to encourage home and cottage owners to add natural buffers between their home and the water, consider checking out Watersheds Canada and Canadian Wildlife Federation’s ‘Love your Lake’ program. The most interesting features of this program are also CBSM tools: communication, education, and social norms.
Communication - The organizers display before and after photos of waterfront property on their website that has been naturalized through planting a variety of native trees, plants, and shrubs. This capturing of attention right away is a critical first step to effective communication.
Education – The Love your Lake program organizers educate home and cottage owners about shoreline protection by providing helpful tips on their website and referring prospective participants to a shoreline habitat creation manual. If you would like to see this high-quality document, you will need to provide your name and email address on their website, which will give you instant access. Here is a shortcut.
Social norms – Video testimonials from Love your Lake homeowner participants demonstrate that naturalizing your waterfront area is normal and beneficial for several reasons. Social science research suggests that we are most likely to observe and mimic the behaviour of people who are most like us, so featuring home and cottage owners who have already naturalized their shoreline is a great idea. Also, in the After photo above, you can see that there is a fish-shaped sign indicating that that homeowner has protected their waterfront property. This is a visual cue for prospective participants that this behaviour is normal and potentially beneficial to them.
To see before and after photos, download the habitat creation manual, and/or find additional resources from the Love your Lake program, click here.
Communication - The organizers display before and after photos of waterfront property on their website that has been naturalized through planting a variety of native trees, plants, and shrubs. This capturing of attention right away is a critical first step to effective communication.
Education – The Love your Lake program organizers educate home and cottage owners about shoreline protection by providing helpful tips on their website and referring prospective participants to a shoreline habitat creation manual. If you would like to see this high-quality document, you will need to provide your name and email address on their website, which will give you instant access. Here is a shortcut.
Social norms – Video testimonials from Love your Lake homeowner participants demonstrate that naturalizing your waterfront area is normal and beneficial for several reasons. Social science research suggests that we are most likely to observe and mimic the behaviour of people who are most like us, so featuring home and cottage owners who have already naturalized their shoreline is a great idea. Also, in the After photo above, you can see that there is a fish-shaped sign indicating that that homeowner has protected their waterfront property. This is a visual cue for prospective participants that this behaviour is normal and potentially beneficial to them.
To see before and after photos, download the habitat creation manual, and/or find additional resources from the Love your Lake program, click here.
