Social Assessment: Getting to Know Your Watershed Communities
Introduction
The health and well-being of watersheds (ecological systems) and human communities (social systems) are inextricably linked. Effective watershed plans and projects take into account both social systems and ecological systems. Social assessment is the process of collecting and analyzing social data in order to gain a better understanding of the social systems that influence water quality.
Social data can be invaluable at any stage of the watershed planning and implementation process. During the early stages of planning, a social assessment can help you identify key issues of interest to the community, important stakeholder groups, and potential partners for funding and implementing projects.
Social data can also help you identify target areas. For example, if you have reason to believe that failing septic systems are a likely source of bacteria in the watershed, a social assessment could help pinpoint where there are homes in the watershed with septic systems more than five years old.
Once you have identified specific management practices that you want to promote, you may use a social assessment process to identify cultural and economic barriers to adoption of those practices. For example, you could determine which homes with older septic systems are in low income neighborhoods so that you can more effectively target cost-share dollars.
Social data can also be used to demonstrate the impacts of watershed projects and programs long before environmental improvements become evident. For example, a survey might indicate that farmers in your watershed who participated in a workshop are installing grass waterways on highly erodible fields. Reductions in sediments loads might not be observed for several months or years, but you could use the survey data to make decisions about continued funding for additional workshops.
This module will introduce you to a number of questions you might want to ask in order to gain a better understanding of the people and communities in your watershed. You will also learn about various methods for collecting data to answer those questions.
Learning Objectives
After completion of the module the learner should be able to:
- Identify a variety of ways social data can be used for watershed planning and implementation and measuring progress on environmental goals.
- Develop a basic plan for collecting social data.
Background Readings
Required:
- McDermaid, K. and Barnstable, D. (2001). Step-by-step guide to conducting a social profile for watershed planning. University of Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. (See below for specific pages). [Academy Students receive a copy of this publication]
- Dement, P. (1998). River talk! Communicating a watershed message. River Network. (See below for specific pages).[Academy students receive a copy of this publication].
Additional Resources:
- OSU Exurban Change Project. http://exurban.osu.edu/ (In addition to other information, contains data on population characteristics from 1960-2000, land use/land cover change and characteristics, annexation history, population change and land cover maps of all 1,309 townships by county).
- Ohio Department of Development - Office of Strategic Research. http://www.odod.state.oh.us/research/ (Provides data and analysis on the economic, industrial, and demographic trends of the State of Ohio, its businesses and its people).