NPS Outreach Toolbox

Getting In Step: Outreach Series

Getting In Step: Outreach Guide

Getting in Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns (136 pp, 3.3MB, About PDF) explains the steps needed to develop and implement an effective watershed outreach campaign and includes a set of practical worksheets to help you get on your way. If you're a watershed practitioner trained in the sciences, this manual will help you address public perceptions, promote management activities, and inform and/or motivate stakeholders.

Part I provides the overall framework for developing and implementing a watershed outreach plan. It presents the outreach process in six discrete steps, with each step building on the previous ones. It offers frequent questions and examples for developing and enhancing outreach materials, and it includes suggestions for creating eye-catching materials, using artwork and photos, and making your products more attractive, as well as approaches to layout and composition. You will find it gives specific frequent questions on working with the news media to get your message out through improved media coverage of polluted runoff and other water quality issues.

Part II includes practical information on launching a watershed outreach campaign to generate and maintain momentum and overcome barriers to success.

Appendices provide worksheet templates to help you decide where to place your efforts and maximize the effectiveness of your outreach campaign.

Top of page

Getting in Step: Outreach Video

A video companion to the Getting in Step outreach guide reinforces the steps outlined in the guide and includes four very different examples of watershed outreach campaigns from different parts of the country. It is suitable for viewing by stakeholders, educators, or others interested in generating watershed outreach campaigns. The video, Getting in Step: A Video Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns (June 2003, EPA-841-V-03-001), can be ordered by calling the National Service Center for Environmental Publications at (800) 490-9198 or by visiting www.epa.gov/nscep.

Getting in Step: Outreach Training Module

A Web-based training module based on the Getting in Step outreach guide and presentations used in the outreach workshops is available as part of EPA's Watershed Academy Web.

Top of page

Getting in Step: Outreach Training Webcast

Listen to an archived webcast seminar from July 20, 2005 on:
"Getting in Step: Developing Your Message and Publicizing it Effectively" by Charlie MacPherson, Public Outreach Specialist, Tetra Tech, Inc., Fairfax, VA.

Getting in Step: Stakeholder Guide

In addition to the outreach guide, video, workshops, and training module, the Getting in Step outreach series includes a comprehensive stakeholder guide. Getting in Step: Engaging and Involving Stakeholders in Your Watershed (80 pp, 1.3MB, About PDF) presents the tools you need to effectively engage stakeholders to restore and maintain healthy environmental conditions through community support and cooperative action. The guide is intended primarily for federal, state, tribal, and local agency personnel involved in watershed management activities.

Top of page