SESSION E:

Title: LakeSmart: Lessons Learned from Program Evaluation

Authors: Barb Welch and Christine Smith
Maine DEP, 17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333 287-7682 barb.welch@maine.gov christine.p.smith@maine.gov

Abstract:

LakeSmart offers free training sessions to lake associations and free technical advice to homeowners in the form of site visits. The program uses recognition (signs, plaques, newsprint,) both as an incentive/reward as well as a means to make the behavior change of less lawn and more buffers more visible. High visibility is crucial to changing the social norm of landscaping more quickly.

In 2005, after two years of LakeSmart, DEP conducted an evaluation of the program and in particular the training/workshops from three perspectives: process, impact and context. Process evaluation, what we traditionally consider as evaluation, tallied the numbers and quality of events. The workshops were well received by the attendees but some were not well attended. Impact and context evaluation, more in depth than we normally undertake, used phone interviews with the workshop attendees, other participants and evaluators. Impact evaluation asked people about what they learned and what action they took. 83% of the people attending a workshop took action. Context evaluation used all the other evaluation results and our database to figure out who, what, where and why. The results of the evaluation revealed a list of Essential Elements for the success of LakeSmart, and other outreach programs in a watershed. Consequently, DEP plans to narrow the focus to lakes that have these essential elements and provide them with more support until they reach the theoretically self-supporting goal of 15% of properties being LakeSmart.

Other programs should consider expanding evaluation to include impact and context.