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For the Bay to be restored and protected, the region’s citizens, communities and other stakeholders must be actively involved. Fostering stewardship of the Bay and its watershed is a top priority for Bay Program partners.

• Public access is vital to building personal connections to nature.
• There are also various communication and outreach programs underway to provide information that engages people in the restoration effort.
• Environmental education opportunities for students and teachers are another area of emphasis.
• The ultimate measure of stewardship, however, is citizen and community action.

The indicators in this section reflect steady progress in providing public access and enhancing environmental education. But programs to increase the number of communities and businesses engaged in restoration have stalled. At the same time, a new project to measure citizen action has been launched.

Efforts to foster stewardship are measured with three indicators:

• Public Access
• Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences (MWEEs)
• Bay Partner Communities.

Quantitative goals have been set for these indicators. When the goals are reached, it should mean that efforts needed to foster stewardship have been implemented.

Long-term trend

N/A -- data for all component indicators have only been collected for two years.

Short-term trend (10-year trend)

N/A -- data for all component indicators have only been collected for two years.

Change from previous year (2007-2008)

The Fostering Stewardship index score increased from 60.3 percent to 64.78 percent of goal achieved.

*Note: The historic data featured in the Education and Interpretation indicator changed due to revised methods to calculate MWEE index.

Percent achievement values for each indicator assessed in the Fostering Stewardship category were averaged to create the index score.

• Public Access
• Education and Interpretation
• Citizen and Community Action

For more information contact: Nita Sylvester at 800-968-7229 ext. 711