PWSR Toolkit Home > Study > Outreach and Public Engagement

Public involvement throughout the study is a key part of all PSWR studies and is one of the most important functions of the local study committee. Your study will likely have multiple public engagement and communications objectives – to inform people of the study, PWSRs and designation benefits; to get public input on ORVs and river use issues; to improve awareness of and connections to river resources; and to gauge and build support for river protection efforts, including PWSR designation. As such, you will need a multifaceted outreach approach involving a wide range of activities (e.g., meetings, workshops, presentations, public input forums/listening sessions, river paddles, walking tours, river clean-ups, tabling at festivals, photo contests, hands-on science projects, riverside art events, targeted mailings, etc.) and diverse products and materials (press releases, newsletters, Story Maps, social media, print materials, website, videos, PSAs, posters, displays for events, PowerPoint presentations, interactive maps, flyers, postcards, letters, etc.). Establishing a relationship with the media can be very helpful to reach additional audiences – for the York River PWSR study, local media wrote and published more than 40 stories over the course of the study.

As part of the documentation in its PWSR study reports, NPS describes the outreach and stakeholder engagement conducted for each study. Outreach examples are included in appendices for recent study reports:

• Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Rivers Wild and Scenic River Study Report – see Appendix 3: Summary of Nashua, Squannacook, and Nissitissit Wild and Scenic Study Outreach and Education Efforts (13 pages) which provides highlights of meetings, outreach events, forums, and activities and provides samples of outreach products.
• Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic River Study Report – see Appendix 4: Major Outreach Efforts of the Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Study Committee 2015-2018 (pages 90-91).
• York River Wild and Scenic River Study Report – see Appendix 3: Examples of Wild and Scenic Study Outreach and Education (pages 89-101), which lists public outreach activities, meetings, and events and includes images of some of the outreach products, many of which are hyperlinked in the table below. 

The examples below highlight some different types of outreach products used in communications and to promote public engagement events. 

Topics in the Study Section