Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2005ME81B

Enhancing Lakefront Buffer Adoption through Social Marketing (pilot project)

Institute: Maine
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-05-01 End Date: 2008-09-30
Total Federal Funds: $25,458 Total Non-Federal Funds: $36,330

Principal Investigators: Laura Wilson, John Jemison

Project Summary: The lakefront vegetative buffer area is the last opportunity for the removal of phosphorus and other nonpoint source pollutants which threaten Maine lake water quality. However, the presence of effective buffers frequently conflicts with the individual homeowners landscape objectives (often a suburban-style green lawn and unobstructed views). The goals of this project are to: 1) identify barriers to developing lakefront buffers; and 2) develop and evaluate social marketing tools to effect behavior change pertaining to installation and maintenance of lakefront buffer areas. It is only by examining the motivations of the landowner, including understanding the benefits and barriers to that landowner regarding the behaviors we wish to encourage/discourage, that we can develop successful lake protection marketing methods and potentially set a new social norm. Therefore, we will investigate landowners perceptions of the benefits and barriers to installing and maintaining lakefront buffers, and test two social marketing tools designed to address those benefits and barriers.