What did you do to my Stream? How to Effectively Communicate Stream Restorations to the Public
Danielle Wynne
Dionna Bucci
Fairfax County, VA Watershed Education and Outreach
Fairfax, VA
Authors:
Chris Mueller, Fairfax County, VA Watershed Education and Outreach
Dionna Bucci, Fairfax County, VA Watershed Education and Outreach
Fairfax County, VA is a large community of more then 1.1 million residents in only 400-square-miles. Located in Northern Virginia outside of Washington D.C., Fairfax County has 1,000 miles of perennial stream of which roughly 70% are in fair to poor condition. In order to meet Bay requirements, many miles of streams have been restored throughout the county. However, very few of these stream restorations have any permanent signage and none of them address the different techniques that were implemented. Ecologists from the Watershed Education and Outreach section within Fairfax County, VA, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, Stormwater Management, have developed a series of informational signs depicting specific stream restoration techniques geared to the general public to help answer the question “what did you do to my stream?”. These signs are examples of passive education opportunities that will communicate the purpose behind the thousands of dollars spent restoring out vital natural resources.
This session will go through the process of how we identified specific techniques to be signed, sign development, sign placement, and how to write interpretive sign content. Participants will develop their own sign content and have time to review and refine as a group.
Lastly, we will discuss how to develop materials with the equity and inclusion lens and examples of methods to provide quantitative data on effectiveness of your signage.
About Danielle Wynne
Danielle Wynne has been a freshwater ecologist with the Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division since 2002. Ms. Wynne has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Master's degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy from George Mason University. Her duties include stream insect and fish surveys, bacteria sampling, and field assessments of habitat and water quality. She leads the award-winning Watershed Education and Outreach section and has a passion for working with students and teachers to help promote the importance of environmental stewardship and education. Ms. Wynne has worked with thousands of students and looks forward to educating many thousands more.
About Dionna Bucci
With both a passion for and experience in environmental education and watershed assessment, Dionna Bucci has been a freshwater ecologist with the Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division since 2019. With degrees in both biology and English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, she has always had an interest in and aptitude for communicating science. Her commitment to encouraging stewardship action and influencing watershed management has led her to design and develop a multitude of award-winning watershed education programs and tools. Working with various diverse communities, Dionna has played a large role in tracking engagement and making science accessible across the county. When she’s not busy digging in the dirt, planting native plants with students, or designing an educational sign on cross vanes, she can be found in the stream, carrying out various biological, chemical, and physical county monitoring programs (or designing a way to teach students about water quality through Dungeons and Dragons—though that one’s still a work in progress).
