Many of our conservation campaigns are entering the home stretch with just a few months to go. Elaina Todd, our campaign manager for effective watershed management in Guam, recently wrote a blog post on RarePlanet talking about how her experience with Rare and her campaign has changed how she views conservation.
The campaign she is running will protect the coral reefs in Southern Guam by influencing the local communities to prevent and report wildland fires in order to reduce harmful sedimentation. Below is her note:
There is still so much to do! At the same time, I couldn’t believe there were only three months left!
As I work on my follow-up grant application, I am trying to think about the future, but find I keep reflecting back on the past. With time seeming to fly by, where was I two years ago today? Where was I one year ago today? Where will I be one year from today?
It’s a pretty crazy thing to think about. I highly recommend it!
I opened up RarePlanet this morning and looked at all the new blogs. Things are moving along with the campaigns, no doubt about that! Changes are occurring.
We are all making innovative moves in our communities and garnering the attention of the media, our partners, and our people. And it seems that each of us is changing along the way as well. The entire Rare process has changed my life for sure.
I have learned so much. I have met so many new people. And I feel like I have grown in so many ways.
I will never look at environmental education the same way again (yes Adam, I said it- I am a convert). I will never again embark on a new project without first understanding specific goals and measures of success (man have I become annoying to work with!).
I will never assume and always pretest! And let’s be honest, as useful as they are, I will forever hate surveys. If I did my own theory of change, I’d say that I have changed in every stage! My knowledge, attitudes & perceptions, communication, and behavior have all shifted because of this campaign.
Two years ago, I couldn’t have imagined that I would be buddies with a bunch of hunters, buying camouflage clothes, sniffing salt licks, discussing deer urine varieties and getting my firearms license! Ha! Or that I would know the issues of the hunters, the conservation officers, the fire department, and the forestry department (notice the lack or marine anything in there!)
Never did I think I would be able to name each southern mayor, know their staff, or organize a community event that didn’t involve the ocean. We’ll save the long winded version for the final report, but I am just amazed at how different life is now.
As I work on my follow up plan, I see so much potential for the future. There is still so much to do. In two years I have barely finished the foundation.
After November, the work will continue. I don’t know exactly what that will look like, but I can say that I feel prepared through the thousands of hours of Rare training (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration!), the experiences along the way (both good and bad), the tremendous support I am now getting from my lead and partner agencies, and from the excitement that is brewing around town about what’s to come.
Probably the biggest change for me right now is that this campaign has become about so much more than the number of fires per year, the turbidity of the water, or even the health of the reef. It is about understanding people, their needs, and the deficiencies in the system to meet those needs.
It is about culture and respect.
It is about listening to what people say (and don’t say). It is about building relationships and nurturing those relationships through honesty and communication.
Thanks Margie for being the catalyst to this introspection. It is good to know that I am not the only one who is spending a little time each week to reflect and appreciate the process. To look back at where we came from, to look at where we are, and to look forward and attempt to even fathom what’s to come.
I highly recommend it!
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