1.9.8_Interpretive_Plan.pdf

Aransas NWR

VIEP

March 24, 2019

Acknowledgements This plan is the result of a lot of work on the part of many people associated with Aransas NWR. They include the following:

Ken Garrahan, Region 2 Chief of Visitor Services Joe Saenz, Refuge Manager Laura Bonneau, Visitor Services Manager Abra Zobel, Cartographer Andy Stetter, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Zachary Piotrowski, Visitor Services Specialist

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 1 Introduction 7 Visitor Interpretive Experience Goal Hierarchy 10 Theme Hierarchy (Messaging) 22 Visitor Interpretive Experiences and Interpretive Strategies 31

Introduction 31 Recommended Visitor Interpretive Experiences by Stage 33

Introduction 33 Choosing to Engage 33 Pre-Potential Visit Experience 36 Travel Experience 38 Arrival Experience: Exterior 39 Arrival Experience: Interior 42 Primary Experience 45 Departure Experience 53 Return Travel Experience 53 Post-Visit Experience 53

Design Concepts 55 Strategies to Catch Attention 55 Pre-Potential Visit Experience: Strategies to Help People Plan a Visit 62 Travel Experience: Strategies to Help People Find Aransas NWR 64 Arrival Experience: Strategies to Help Meet People’s Needs 65 Primary Experience: Interpretive Strategies in Visitor Center 70 Primary Experience: Interpretive Strategies around Visitor Center 81 Primary Experience: Interpretive Strategies for Entire Refuge 85 Primary Experience: Interpretive Strategies Along Auto Tour 88 Oak Motte Picnic Area 88 Jones Lake 92 Observation Towers 93

Phasing Plan 98 Appendix A: Definitions 100 Appendix B: Target Audience Profiles 103 Appendix C: Parameters 112 Appendix D: Interpretive Inventory 118

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Preface Definitions The following are brief definitions for terms used in this plan. More detailed definitions can be found in Appendix A.

Visitor Interpretive Experience Plan (VIEP): A plan that uses a visitor experience approach to determine the interpretive opportunities to develop. The approach also helps identify orientation and wayfinding information needs, and other actions necessary to develop a high-quality visitor interpretive experience.

Visitor: A person who visits the refuge physically or virtually through a website or other channel.

Stepping Stones of Engagement: An array of opportunities that afford visitors myriad pathways to move from their current connection with nature, to a strong connection with native flora and fauna.

Native Nature: Biota that evolved in an area and therefore are native to that location. This term avoids being forced to label different types of nature as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

Transition Zones in Refuges: Areas within refuges designed to create a transition from land that is more managed to land that is more natural, and is the focus of the refuge’s mission at that site. This zone typically is small, and includes such features as parking areas and visitor centers.

Information Network Approach: People commit time conditionally and typically in increments.

Consequently, the interpretive network uses an array of interconnected interpretive opportunities to convey the messages.

Developing the VIEP This Visitor Interpretive Experience Plan (VIEP) focuses on identifying and conceptualizing the network of orientation, wayfinding and interpretive opportunities to create and facilitate visitor interpretive experiences associated with Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), which are visitor experiences with a significant interpretive component. All visitor interpretive experiences do not have to occur on the refuge itself. For example, people encountering Pollinator Gardens or Butterfly Gardens in public areas planted through partnerships between the USFWS and others are considered visitors and could have a complete visitor interpretive experience associated with that feature without ever physically visiting the refuge. These type of experiences are an important part of the network given the somewhat isolated nature of the refuge.

The Continuums Used to Develop the Plan Developing the VIEP for Aransas NWR is based on moving people along two continuums – the Continuum of Active Involvement in Conservation, and the Continuum of Experiences in Native Nature, which moves from an urban environment where a built environment dominates, to a natural environment where Native Nature dominates.

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Continuum of Active Involvement in Conservation One of the goals for the refuge is for visitors to experience nature in ways that make them more aware of and comfortable with (less afraid of) Native Nature, motivates them to actively support the refuge, and inspires them to engage in acts of stewardship regarding natural resources.

Consequently, the interpretive opportunities selected help move people along a continuum of valuing Native Nature in urban (and non-urban) environments as part of their quality of life, and also motivates them to take actions reflecting stewardship, such as by developing natural landscapes.

Continuum of Experiences in Native Nature Ultimately, the desire is for visitors to have interpretive experiences associated with Aransas NWR that lead to a never-ending string of experiences in natural areas, helping to establish Native Nature as a valued part of a visitor’s lifestyle. Not all visitors will venture all the way along the continuum of experiences, but they should always have the opportunity to go further. That goal dictates the following:

Every interpretive experience should include marketing additional interpretive experiences, especially ones that move visitors closer to an experience in Native Nature;

The Visitor Center should function as a portal into the more natural parts of the refuge;

The sequence of experiences at the refuge should progress from environments dominated by built features with some Native Nature to environments dominated by Native Nature with minimal built elements;

Aransas NWR as a whole should function as a portal to other areas that provide experiences in Native Nature, including other local open space and public lands, and ultimately other refuges.

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Executive Summary The Visitor Interpretive Experience Plan for Aransas NWR identifies the interpretive opportunities, supporting infrastructure and any other factors that need to be addressed to create attractive visitor experiences while maintaining the most important purpose of the refuge, which is to protect / conserve / restore migratory waterfowl, native habitat and associated species, especially the whooping crane.

Goals The primary interpretive goal is to motivate visitors to become active stewards of the natural resources and supporters of the USFWS and National Wildlife Refuge System. Specific interpretive goals include the following:

Interpretive Program Goal 1: Visitor satisfaction with their visit to Aransas increases significantly due in large part to better trip planning, orientation and wayfinding information and to an array of attractive interpretive opportunities.

Interpretive Program Goal 2: A significant increase in the number of people - both visitors to the refuge and people outside the refuge – who are reached with key messages.

Interpretive Program Goal 3: Achieve a significant increase in the awareness of the refuge and the roles it plays that relate to quality of life for people living in the surrounding area.

Interpretive Program Goal 4: Achieve a significant increase in the level of motivation by visitors to engage in stewardship behaviors in their daily lives, leading to an actual increase in stewardship behaviors.

Interpretive Program Goal 5: Achieve a significant increase in awareness of, appreciation for, and active support of the work of the USFWS in restoring and conserving Native Nature.

Interpretive Program Goal 6: Significantly reduce the perception among urban dwellers that Native Nature is to be feared.

Interpretive Program Goal 7: Achieve a significant increase in behaviors of residents living in the upper part of the watersheds of the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers that have a positive impact on the quality / quantity of water reaching San Antonio Bay, which in turn affects the wildlife at the refuge, especially the cranes.

Key Factors Key factors in developing the plan include the following:

The general need on the part of the USFWS to connect a national audience that is highly urbanized to nature, as a step on the pathway of making the NWR system and the USFWS more relevant to the public.

The unique position of Aransas NWR due to the iconic nature of the whooping crane and the story of saving the species from extinction. Because of that, among refuges, Aransas has a higher potential to attract non-traditional audiences from around the United States.

The Visitor Center was damaged by Hurricane Harvey and must be replaced, creating the opportunity to put it in a better location and improve exhibits and messaging.

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The significant differences between target audiences creates a need for developing different visitor experiences.

The relative isolation of Aransas NWR renders it more of a destination rather than a rest stop.

The refuge does not currently have a location where visitors can easily see whooping cranes up close.

The Visitor Center has to serve – sometimes concurrently – three major groups of people: USFWS staff working on management of the refuge; visitors to the refuge;

school groups visiting the refuge on a school field trip.

Messaging (Themes) Motivating people to take action regarding resources requires that they value the resource (or the USFWS) as a key part of what they consider quality of life; that they are aware that the resource (and therefore their quality of life) is threatened; and that an ongoing effort to conserve the resource exists and includes people similar to the visitor. If those conditions are met, a Call to Action is much more likely to be successful. The following key messages (themes) were selected with that in mind. The set of messages includes ones that are general because a significant number of visitors do not come from the surrounding area, so their criteria for quality of life is likely to be different, plus the fact that many urban residents don’t understand basic biological concepts. Site specific messages were selected as ones that local residents would be more likely to respond to.

General Interpretive Theme 1: Native Nature is important to your (my) quality of life.

General Interpretive Theme 2: Wildlife, along with all other biological organisms, depend on their specific habitat (or habitats) to survive.

General Interpretive Theme 3: A lot of people, including the USFWS, are working to conserve and restore habitat to protect wildlife we value for the people today and for future generations.

You can make a difference by helping.

Aransas NWR-specific Interpretive Theme 4: Aransas NWR provides many benefits to the citizens of the area.

Aransas NWR-specific Interpretive Theme 5: Everything in a watershed is linked. Everything that happens upstream affects everything downstream. Aransas NWR and the fish and wildlife it supports are endangered due to actions by urban residents in the north part of the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers.

Aransas NWR-specific Interpretive Theme 6: The wetlands at Aransas NWR are valuable to humans for a myriad of reasons.

Aransas NWR-specific Interpretive Theme 7: Without Aransas NWR, the whooping crane would probably have gone extinct, which would have significant negative effects on the surrounding community.

Sub-themes and supporting stories for each theme, which can be found in the section on themes, provide the fodder for the interpretive network.

Key Recommendations Recommendations are organized by stage of the visitor experience – Choosing to Engage; Pre-Visit;

Travel; Arrival; Primary; Departure; Return Travel; Post Trip. The most significant recommendations come in the Arrival and Primary stages of the Visitor Experience. Many of those recommendations are based on Aransas NWR being a destination attraction for more than just birders. Achieving the goal of being a destination attraction requires, in large part, developing a set of visitor interpretive experiences

March 24, 2019 that are worth the time and effort of non-traditional users to travel to the refuge, and making the visitors feel welcome.

Key recommendations, not organized in any particular order, include the following:

Improve the Orientation and Wayfinding information network within the refuge.

Develop an array of loop interpretive trails that start at the Visitor Center. The trail system at this location will include the Heron Flats and Rail Trails, both of which will be loops and also access the Alligator Viewing Platform. To allow for a good transition from a built to a natural environment, and to create the opportunity for visitors in the Visitor Center to look out of windows to the south and see the refuge without seeing a road cutting through it, the access roadway should be re-located so it passes behind the Visitor Center. The existing road and parking between the Visitor Center and the Alligator Viewing Platform would be removed. Not only does this set up an exceptionally good layout for a nested loop of trails, it also helps keep people off roadways.

Build a Visitor Center structure that has separate entryways, and ideally restroom facilities for the 3 major groups of people who will use it – USFWS staff focused on managing the refuge;

visitors; and school groups. The restrooms for visitors would have an outdoor entrance to accommodate after-hours use.

Design the structure so it has the adjacencies depicted in the bubble diagram in Figure 1. Note that the size of each bubble only approximates the size of the space relative to the others. Note also that the bubbles can be moved around, but it is important to maintain the adjacencies listed after the diagram.

Figure 1: Adjacencies and flow of spaces within and just outside the visitor center.

Key Adjacencies in the Visitor Center and the surrounding area

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Myriad options exist to site and design the building, but the following adjacencies should be maintained regardless of design:

Adjacency: Information Desk / Visitor Center Staff offices / Refuge Administrative offices, Explanation: Visitor Center staff should be able to move back and forth from the Information Desk in the public area and their offices quickly. They should also be able to easily access the Administrative Area to facilitate interacting with other staff, use the staff restrooms, use the staff break and lunch areas, etc.

Adjacency: Information Desk with all of the following – Visitor Center Staff offices, Friends Group offices, and volunteer space (not shown).

Explanation: This gives the refuge the most flexibility regarding strategies to staff the Information Desk during all hours it is open.

Adjacency: Administrative offices / other structures associated with refuge management, such as the maintenance shed.

Explanation: Given the existing infrastructure and layout, the Visitor Center can serve as a boundary between Administrative and public spaces, and also between a built and at least somewhat natural environment. To do so, the administrative space must be on right side as you face the building. That way they can exit heading in the direction of residences, maintenance shed, etc., without passing through visitor space.

Adjacency: Store / Friends Group offices and storage.

Explanation: The Friends Group will be managing the store, and must be able to access their offices and inventory easily. Note that the store must be securable.

Adjacency: Lobby with restrooms and information / Interior Exhibit Space / Exterior Visitor Space / Trail hub.

Explanation: Visitors will want information and restrooms (needs) before being amenable to exhibits and other interpretive opportunities (optional). Consequently, the exhibit area should be adjacent to but beyond the lobby, from which the visitor can access areas to meet their needs. Since a major goal is to attract visitors outside where they can ‘see’ the story, it is important that they be able to see outside natural areas from the inside, be able to access the Exterior Visitor Space directly from the Exhibit Area, and access the Trail Hub from the Outdoor Space.

Adjacency: Outdoor Staging Area / Multipurpose Room / Restrooms / Trail Hub.

Explanation: Visitors using the Multipurpose Room should be able to access it and the restrooms without going through the visitor areas in the Visitor Center. They should also have the opportunity to exit the space directly into the exterior Visitor Space and Trail Hub.

Adjacency: Front of the Visitor Center with the rear of the Visitor Center, ideally through the center of the building complex by way of a breezeway. If a breezeway is designed, the visitor center entry and the entry to the visitor restrooms must be adjacent to the pass through.

Explanation: This allows visitors to experience the same transition from a built to a natural environment as those who go through the visitor center, while still having access to opportunities to meet basic needs (restrooms and orientation information).

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To the extent possible work on creating a better opportunity to see cranes close up on the refuge than what is currently available at the Observation Tower. This may take care of itself if whooping cranes start using the Heron Flats area on a regular basis, as they have started to do in 2019. Note that seeing whooping cranes is not a critical part of the experience for most visitors. Although some visitors come specifically to see whooping cranes, many other visitors come for other reasons, such as seeing alligators, or just getting into nature.

Increase the perceived significance of Aransas NWR, and identify it as the ‘Whooping Crane Refuge and a Lot More’ by creating a more memorable entry into the refuge so visitors feel like they have arrived at some place special, and for those seeking a glimpse of a whooping crane, that they have arrived at the Whooping Crane Refuge, which is the experience they want. One possibility is a series of metal cut-outs of the whooping crane, a sandhill crane, and similar birds of increasingly smaller size along one side of the entry wall, and a similar type of cut out of a crocodile, and other species on the other side. Ideally, visitors who want to see whooping cranes will know they are in the right place, and for others, they know that Aransas is home for a variety of interesting birds and wildlife. This also becomes a place for them to stop and take a photo, as people do when entering National Parks, and can be a small attraction by itself.

Note: Although it would be ideal for people to value a place because it was a national wildlife refuge, in general they don’t because urban audiences in general tend to not consider refuges connected to or important to their quality of life. As a consequence, the USFWS has to seize whatever opportunity is available to bolster support for a part of the refuge that people will consider of value. In this particular case, identifying it as the wintering home of an iconic endangered species will have significant traction with a lot of people. However, it is not the only species that will have traction. Many people will come to see the crocodiles, and others will come just because it is an island of natural habitat in a sea of manipulated lands.

From a visitor (and USFWS) perspective, it would be ideal if the first structure visitors see is the visitor center rather than residences. However, budget limitations and site elevation preclude moving the visitor center and rebuilding residences elsewhere. As a short-term solution, the visitor center can still be the first structure they see if visual screening hides the residences and other out buildings. This could be vegetation, but will more likely mean a fence of some sort, such as a privacy fence, which might appeal to the staff living in the residences adjacent to the entry road. Note that if this were a solid structure, it could also have metal cutouts of birds and wildlife ‘leading’ visitors to the Visitor Center.

Develop enough interpretive opportunities within the Visitor Center, and along the road (without having to get out of an air-conditioned car for any significant length of time) to offer an experience in hot weather that is worth the time it takes to get there from surrounding communities such as Rockport, Port Lavaca, Victoria, Corpus Christi, etc.

Close and rehabilitate the Songbird Loop Trail (unless parts of it can easily be incorporated into the nested loop of trails).

Develop more opportunities at the Oak Motte picnic area by creating a loop interpretive trail connecting it with the Oak Sanctuary Trail and Pier Trail, and developing necessary infrastructure to offer programs at that site, such as a screened shelter. Note that this would require 2 road crossings because the Oak Sanctuary Trail is on the opposite side of the road from the picnic area.

Develop interpretive opportunities at the Observation Tower focusing on landscapes.

Re-configure the Auto Loop road so visitors have the option of looping back to the access road shortly after the Observation Tower.

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Develop guided and self-guided tours by van, bicycle and kayak.

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Introduction As a result of the damage from Hurricane Harvey, the USFWS is faced with the task of rebuilding the refuge to continue to function effectively as a place for birds, fish, wildlife and visitors. The extent of the damage, which includes the loss of the existing visitor center, creates the opportunity to consider options for modifying the lay out of the site with the visitor center, and other sites on the refuge open for public use, to increase effectiveness in communicating with the public, a key to increasing visibility and support.

The purpose of the Visitor Interpretive Experience Plan is to guide the development of visitor experiences associated with the refuge that have a significant interpretive component, and through the identification of such experiences, identify the information network to facilitate and support those experiences. That network includes orientation, wayfinding and interpretation.

The following key factors played a significant role in developing the plan:

1. The need to connect people to nature: The general need on the part of the USFWS to connect a highly urbanized national audience to nature in ways that lead to support for conservation of natural resources, whether from becoming a hunter or angler, or simply valuing nature for less tangible reasons. Accomplishing this requires reaching non-traditional users of refuges. This is also a step on the pathway of making the NWR system and the USFWS more relevant to the public.

2. The unique position of Aransas NWR: The opportunity to take advantage of the unique position of Aransas NWR as critical winter habitat for an iconic species (the whooping crane), and a part of the iconic story of the recovery of the population, to help attract non-traditional visitors to Aransas NWR. Note that visitors do not currently have good options for seeing whooping cranes up close while they are on the refuge. This is not critical for most audiences. Many people visit to see the alligators, climb the towers, and just spend some time in nature. However, if the refuge is going to be marketed (at least in part) as the ‘Whooping Crane Refuge, ‘ more visitors will arrive who have an expectation of seeing the bird.

3. Increasing local support: The need to increase support for the refuge and USFWS among local residents (within a 50-mile radius of the refuge). (Austwell, Tivoli, Rockport, Port Lavaca, Refugio, Victoria)

4. The freshwater issue: The impact of freshwater usage in urban areas located in the upper part of the watershed (San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers) on the health of the ecosystem necessary to support the refuge in general and whooping cranes specifically. For the most part, addressing this issue will depend more on outreach, such as Table Teasers at restaurants along the San Antonio River Walk. Beyond San Antonio itself, places to target for outreach efforts depends on whether people from San Antonio visit other wildlife refuges, such as Balcones Canyonlands NWR. Note that using Balcones to reach people about the impact of water usage on coastal habitat is still worthwhile.

Note: No major rivers drain the area in which Aransas NWR is located. Surface water is likely generated from precipitation and local groundwater levels (per USFWS). However, the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers can have significant impact on the refuge because they discharge into San Antonio Bay, therefore affecting the water quality in the bay, which in turn affects important food sources (blue crab) for whooping cranes and other wildlife.

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The Need to Connect People to Nature Around 80% of the population of the United States lives in an urban area. May of those people don’t consider the system of National Wildlife Refuges or the USFWS relevant to their lives. To become more relevant will likely require connecting those people with nature – the nature that the USFWS manages.

One of the Standards of Excellence identified for Urban Wildlife Refuges is ‘Connecting people to nature via Stepping Stones of Engagement.’ Aransas NWR is not a designated Urban Wildlife Refuge; however, the concept of Stepping Stones of Engagement still applies. The implication of a ‘progression’ is apt in that the ideal outcome is for all members of target audiences to find a starting place with which they are comfortable, and become fully engaged in conserving natural resources, a goal that requires a progressive series of commitments, each a step beyond the other. However, the term is a misnomer in that it implies a linear pathway of steps with a specific starting and ending point, which by inference, involves a visit to the refuge.

In reality, Stepping Stones of Engagement includes an array of opportunities that constitute potential starting points to expose target audiences to nature, wildlife, refuges, the USFWS and conservation.

Most people have some existing relationship with nature, such as having house plants, or a backyard garden. Those existing relationships should be the starting place for Stepping Stones of Engagement.

The approach of starting where the audience is currently located reflects the commitment by the USFWS to meet people where they are. As a whole, ‘starting stepping stones’ offer potential visitors an array of opportunities to experience nature so everyone has an opportunity to interact with and experience nature in a way that they consider ‘safe’ and within his or her comfort zone. For some it may be a visit to the refuge, but for others it may be a virtual experience on the Internet or some other option that does not involve visiting the refuge.

Each stepping stone not only provides an opportunity to experience nature at a specific level, but also seeks to move a visitor along the journey to becoming fully engaged in conserving natural resources.

Consequently, all ‘starting stepping stones’ are linked to myriad potential ‘follow-up stepping stones,’ and from those to other Stepping Stones of Engagement in what the USFWS hopes is an endless journey of engagement and associated commitment to conservation that takes the form of actions.

The result of this factor is a recommendation for a series of visitor experiences that move visitors gradually along a continuum from experiences in places dominated by a built environment to experiences in places dominated by a natural environment.

The Unique Position of Aransas NWR Most people in the United States have heard of the whooping crane, even if they are not birdwatchers or nature enthusiasts, in part because of the remarkable recovery of the species from the edge of extinction. Aransas NWR is a key to the story. It was at Aransas NWR that whooping cranes were ‘discovered,’ and it is Aransas NWR that provides most of the critical wintering habitat for the crane.

Without that habitat, the crane would likely be extinct. Because of the iconic nature of the species and story, non-traditional audiences could be attracted to the refuge, where the USFWS then has the opportunity to engage them, but if the whooping crane story is used to market a visit to Aransas NWR, more visitors will arrive with an expectation of seeing the birds. This can be addressed in part by finding ways to provide good opportunities to see the birds, and also in part by offering some type of unique experience in the Visitor Center that focuses on whooping cranes.

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Note that many visitors come to Aransas NWR for other reasons, so the ‘tag line’ used informally for the refuge should not be ‘The Whooping Crane Refuge,’ but rather something along the lines of ‘The Whooping Crane Refuge and a Whole Lot More!’

Increase local support for Aransas NWR and the USFWS As a general rule, people value places that contribute to their quality of life. Bird watchers and nature enthusiasts will value the refuge as whooping crane habitat. Other people may value the refuge as whooping crane habitat due to its iconic nature. However, gaining support from others due to increasing the perceived value of the refuge may require focusing on other aspects of the refuge that contribute to quality of life for local residents. For example, Aransas NWR:

Helps protect gas and oil infrastructure from storms;

Helps protect homes, farms and businesses from storms;

Protects coastal marsh that is critical to healthy populations of whooping cranes – a bird that places a role in the local economy by attracting visitors;

Helps protect fish species important to commercial and recreational anglers;

Helps protect other sea life important to residents and local businesses, such as crabs, oysters and shrimp;

Contributes to the economy by attracting visitors who rent rooms and cars and purchase food.

The Freshwater Issue The health of the ecosystems in Aransas NWR depends indirectly on freshwater coming from the upper reaches of the San Antonio and Guadalupe watersheds. Urban areas located in the upper parts of those watersheds, such as San Antonio, also depend on that freshwater. Water saving measures in those urban areas, such as using native vegetation for landscaping, and maintaining the quality of water as it leaves those urban areas would help ensure a continued flow of freshwater at the volume and quality needed to help maintain a healthy ecosystem in San Antonio Bay, which supplies important food resources to the whooping cranes (blue crab). Interpretation on-site can be used to reach visitors from those areas who visit the refuge, but given the distance between the refuge and these urban areas, an outreach component will be needed to increase awareness of the issue among those residents.

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Visitor Interpretive Experience Goal Hierarchy

Introduction The VIEP takes its direction from the Management Goals for the refuge, which reflect how the USFWS intends to achieve the Vision/Mission for the refuge. The Visitor Interpretive Experience Goals reflect impacts on the behavior, knowledge and attitude of the target audience, which, if achieved, result in progress toward the Aransas NWR Goals. The Interpretive Program Goals and Objectives, if reached, will help make progress toward the Visitor Interpretive Experience Goals. Finally, the media prescription and associated actions in the Action Plan that are identified near the end of this planning process are the Outputs by the USFWS that are the tools for achieving the desired impacts on target audiences reflected in the Interpretive Program Goals and Objectives. All those elements have been captured in the hierarchical structure depicted below.

USFWS Mission and NWR System Goals

Aransas NWR Vision

Aransas NWR Goals

Visitor Interpretive Experience Goals

Interpretive Program Goals and Objectives (Outcomes)

Actions (Outputs)

The following section is a summary of the key parts of the Goal Hierarchy, beginning with the vision for Aransas NWR. Refer to the Appendices for the complete, detailed goal hierarchy.

USFWS Mission and NWR System Goals This is a National Wildlife Refuge, an entity with a mission:

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

Every action the USFWS takes should in some way support and make progress towards that mission. The agency also has specific goals for the National Wildlife Refuge system:

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USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System Goals Conserve a diversity of fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats, including species that are endangered or threatened with becoming endangered;

Develop and maintain a network of habitats for migratory birds, anadromous and inter-jurisdictional fish, and marine mammal populations that is strategically distributed and carefully managed to meet important life history needs of these species across their ranges;

Conserve those ecosystems, plant communities, wetlands of national or international significance, and landscapes and seascapes that are unique, rare, declining, or underrepresented in existing protection efforts;

Provide and enhance opportunities to participate in compatible wildlife-dependent recreation (hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, environmental education and interpretation);

Foster understanding and instill appreciation of the diversity and interconnectedness of fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats.

Aransas NWR Goals Aransas NWR will help achieve the USFWS mission in general by making progress on all National Wildlife Refuge System Goals, and specifically by accomplishing the following goals, which were taken from the

2010 CCP:

Wildlife: To protect, restore, and maintain a diversity of native wildlife with special emphasis on Federal trust species and other species of management concern.

Habitat: To protect, restore, and maintain the prominent features within the Texas Gulf Coast Ecosystem that include blackland coastal prairie, wetlands, coastal woodlands, barrier island, and tidal and estuary habitats on and near the Refuge while controlling the spread of invasive or exotic plants.

1. Restore and maintain native flora and fauna on the refuge, especially as it relates to migratory waterfowl (that is what the refuge was initially set aside to accomplish, which is why it used to be called the Aransas Migratory Waterfowl Refuge).

2. Restore and maintain habitat supporting endangered species, especially the whooping crane.

Public Use: To provide quality, wildlife-dependent recreational and environmental education opportunities to a diverse audience and increase Refuge System support by promoting an understanding and appreciation for the unique wildlife, fish, and habitats at Aransas NWR.

Aransas NWR Vision – The Refuge in 20 years If successful in the efforts to reach the target audiences identified for this plan, which supports the goals of the USFWS, the National Wildlife Refuge System and Aransas NWR, the following could be characteristics of the refuge in 20 years in terms of visitation and use:

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Visitation and Use

1. Hunters and anglers continue to enjoy high quality experiences on the refuge.

2. Birders and nature tourists flock from near and far to visit what continues to be one of the premier destinations in the world for watching birds and wildlife, including experiencing the whooping crane.

3. Despite multiple visits to the refuge, local residents continue to visit on a regular basis and engage in interpretive experiences because such opportunities are constantly changing and are always relevant no matter the changes to the social environment.

4. Youth consistently engage in activities, and many become outdoors people who support and visit refuges and other natural areas.

5. As a result of effective partnerships, the refuge enjoys use from local schools for field trips, Environmental Education opportunities, research projects, Service Learning projects and intern programs where students from middle and high schools and local colleges serve as interns at the refuge.

6. Locals value the refuge because of the roles it plays in their quality of life, and are aware of the refuge’s economic benefit to the community, and of its role in helping protect oil and gas infrastructure from storms coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, protecting homes and businesses (Matagorda Island acts as a protective barrier), and protecting important habitat supporting commercial and recreational activities like waterfowl hunting, fishing, etc.

7. Residents feel the refuge is a part of the community, which is reflected by well-attended community work projects focused on restoring and managing natural habitat both on and outside the refuge, and attendance at special events hosted by the refuge.

8. Residents of the watershed are aware of and support the larger network of USFWS refuges and other sites that engage in conservation of migratory and resident flora and fauna. (This aspect of the vision will require actions beyond the scope of this plan.)

9. Local leaders understand the value of the refuge in terms of increased tourism and the consequent boost to the economy, its role in protecting gas and oil infrastructure and the opportunities it offers residents, so they support the refuge and its activities. They also champion the refuge and refuge programs within the community in gaining congressional support.

10. The refuge continues to attract an increasing number of visitors from around the United States and the world, many of whom have demonstrated increased support for conservation and the

USFWS.

11. Over the past 2 decades, Aransas NWR has experienced a significant increase in the degree to which all visitors feel welcome, due in part to an increase in materials that are multi-lingual, and increased understanding by the USFWS of what target audience segments consider of value in a visit.

What is happening with the USFWS staff and refuge along the way?

1. Refuge birding and nature tourism programs continue to develop, which maintains Aransas

NWR’s status as a premier birding destination.

2. The number of volunteer and employment opportunities increases, whether through the USFWS or youth employment opportunities such as YCC, SCA, AmeriCorps, and interns.

3. Innovative public use programs become the norm rather than the exception.

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4. Although visitor services programs and facilities continue to expand, they are planned and managed with input from Law Enforcement, maintenance and biological staff, so they do not contradict the habitat and conservation mission of the USFWS.

5. Aransas NWR continues to develop partners that support the work of the USFWS both within the watershed and within the refuge.

6. The refuge staff take initiative on a regular basis for cross programmatic work and for enhancing the visitor experiences for all visitors, not just traditional visitors.

7. Service leadership recognizes the need for innovation in planning and operations of visitor services.

8. Staff understands the relationship between conservation mission and visitor services activities.

9. The refuge values existing partnerships, and continues to work on new partnerships.

10. Staff understands the need to value visitors, which manifests itself in visitors feeling welcome.

Visitor Interpretive Experience Program Goal Hierarchy

Introduction With the crisis facing natural resources in general, it’s not enough for people to simply value natural resources; they need to take actions to help restore and protect the resources, and/or to support the efforts of the USFWS. Motivating people to take action of this kind generally requires caring about whatever they are restoring or protecting, or caring about the USFWS, to the point that the personal benefit they derive from their actions is worth the time and effort they expend. Interpretation can help that effort by creating strong positive emotional, intellectual and physical connections with the refuge and its inhabitants. It can also help facilitate motivating residents of urban areas to visit natural areas by stirring curiosity and interest while removing barriers, such as fear of nature.

It is also important to understand that it is not the interpretive opportunities by themselves that are going to attract visitors to the refuge, rather it is experiences. Interpretive opportunities can increase the attraction power by adding value to those experiences, and can be a key to forging strong emotional and intellectual bonds between the natural world and people, but it needs to mesh with experiences that visitors desire in order to be effective.

Visitor Interpretive Experience Goals and Objectives Because of the significant differences in the target audiences, the plan used primary goals identified for both local residents and non-traditional users outside the area in developing the plan. Note that at this level of the goal hierarchy, traditional users are covered by the goals for local residents.

Primary Goal: Traditional and non-traditional users from outside the area Increase awareness among visitors of the connection between the refuge and conservation of natural resources, and what they value in terms of quality of life, which will foster a positive personal intellectual, physical and emotional connection between the public and the refuge and the native flora and fauna it supports, and by extension, the National Wildlife Refuge System.

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This goal reflects Aransas NWR as a destination refuge for both traditional and non-traditional users from outside the local area. It focuses on an attitude that is key to visitors engaging in behaviors that support the mission of the USFWS. If they don’t value the refuge or its resources, they are not like to take actions to support either.

The outcomes are difficult to identify because these visitors do not live in the local area so it will be difficult to track what they do as a result of their visit. The hope is that they will become more active in helping conserve and restore natural resources, whether by something as simple as recycling, or something more time consuming, such as volunteering for work parties or becoming a volunteer.

Probably the most cost-effective approach is to gauge changes in attitude as a result of a visit to the refuge. The surveying, which will require a permit from OMB, would survey a sample of visitors prior to their experience and a different sample of visitors who have concluded their visit to determine if significant changes in attitudes toward the USFWS, refuges, fish and wildlife, and conservation occurred.

Primary Goal: Local Residents (includes traditional users)

Create a network of local residents who actively practice and support conservation, and by extension, support Aransas NWR and the USFWS.

This goal reflects Aransas NWR and the USFWS as a neighbor. It will manifest itself in the following Outcomes:

• Local residents visit the refuge regularly;

• Families use refuge facilities for picnics and outings with the extended family, in part because they are aware of the opportunities at the refuge;

• Residents attend and help with events at the refuge;

• Local residents volunteer at the refuge for work parties and/or other activities, such as BirdFest, refuge annual celebration, staffing visitor center (hosting), roving interpreters, community ambassadors, etc.;

• College students and adults train as interpretive naturalists and birding guides, resulting in a large trained group of volunteers to help at events and functions at the refuge.

• Local residents use native plants for landscaping in combinations that create good habitat for native flora, fauna and other valuable organisms, such as butterflies and pollinators;

• Local residents volunteer for projects in the community that are ‘extensions’ of the refuge, such as helping create and maintain Islands of Habitat in schoolyards, neighborhood natural areas and other public spaces;

• Local residents engage in recycling (this indicates an increase in environmental literacy and stewardship behaviors);

• Local residents support community measures focused on conservation, recycling and other actions consistent with the goals of the USFWS;

• Local residents support the refuge through voting behavior, letters to community and government leaders and similar actions;

• As a result of understanding the benefits of conservation, community leaders actively support passage and enforcement of environmental laws and policies, including developing green infrastructure and more green spaces;

• Media advocates for conservation and green spaces;

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• The medical community actively supports the refuge because it recognizes Aransas NWR as a healthy destination for families to exercise and reduce stress.

Interpretive Program Goals and Objectives

Overarching Interpretive Program Goal The following overarching interpretive program goal guides the overall development of the recommended interpretive network:

The majority of visitors will develop strong positive emotional, intellectual and physical connections with nature to the point that they consider nature (Native Nature) an important part of their quality of life, and become active stewards of natural resources.

Interpretive Program Goals and Objectives The following goals and objectives nest under the overarching goal. Note that many can and do apply to almost all the refuges in the system. That is because the goals of refuges in general are consistent – conserve and restore native habitat that supports native flora and fauna.

Note: The current visitor experience at Aransas NWR can be improved significantly through changes in infrastructure, such as building a new visitor center, adding trail so the Heron Flats trail is a loop rather than an out and back, and making other changes that facilitate the visitor experience. All such measures should be implemented, and should cause increases in satisfaction. However, the goals in this section are for the interpretive program, so that is the focus of the objectives.

Achieving this goal requires enhancing the quality of the overall visitor interpretive experience at Aransas NWR. This could be as simple as upgrading the orientation and wayfinding network and making people aware of opportunities they didn’t know were available, but should also include upgrading existing interpretive experiences and adding ones that provide a good return on the investment.

Objectives Objectives focus on a significant increase in visitor satisfaction due in part to interpretive opportunities.

Consequently, it is important to establish a baseline for satisfaction prior to implementing strategies intended to increase the quality of the visitor interpretive experience. To avoid research contamination, a new baseline should be established after each upgrade to the overall experience from changes in infrastructure, such as making the Heron Flats trail a loop trail.

Note: When appropriate, work through the Human Dimensions Branch of the USFWS to conduct evaluation focused on determining if the following objectives have been reached.

Objective 1-1: Visitor satisfaction will improve by a statistically significant amount after implementation of any major interpretive opportunity.

Interpretive Program Goal 1: Visitor satisfaction with their visit to Aransas increases significantly due in large part to better trip planning, orientation and wayfinding information and to an array of attractive interpretive opportunities.

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This will require establishing a baseline and then measuring changes. To avoid contamination, information should come from repeat visitors since the baseline was established using the existing visitor base.

Note: Changes in infrastructure are included because of the need to tie visitor satisfaction to actions that focus on visitor experiences rather than on habitat restoration.

Objective 1-2: Visitor opinion of the USFWS will improve by a statistically significant amount after implementation of any major interpretive opportunity or change in infrastructure related to visitor experiences.

Note: Achieving this objective requires that visitors are aware that the experiences offered are due to management by the USFWS.

Objective 1-3: Complaints per capita will decrease by a statistically significant amount after every significant improvement to the visitor experience.

This requires collecting data regarding complaints in an organized fashion, such as by providing staff and volunteers with a form for collecting such data. The form would include date, complaint, audience segment, and any additional information that can be gleaned without asking the visitor questions. It could also include a comment/suggestion box. Although this typically generates responses from people who ae either quite irritated or quite impressed, it does provide helpful input. (This should be started as soon as possible, even before the visitor center is built.)

This goal suggests choosing and locating interpretive strategies on the refuge to achieve a high probability of being used, which means in part tailoring them to specific target audiences. It also suggests a significant investment in outreach opportunities, especially to those target audiences who live in urban areas in the upper part of the watershed who can have significant impact on achieving the Interpretive Program Goals.

Objectives The Objectives focus on communicating the key messages, consequently, gathering data would typically require a formal survey and hence, a permit from OMB. However, it is possible to include an interpretive opportunity in the visitor center where visitors can ‘test their knowledge.’ The answers should mostly fall into the ‘didjaknow’ category, but some can focus on awareness of specific messages…