Capabilities

The Upper and Middle James Riparian Consortium is a network of private, non-profit, and public partners that focuses on riparian forest buffers across the Upper and Middle James watersheds. Their mission is to increase acreages of riparian buffers in the Upper and Middle James River watersheds. Riparian buffers are an effective means of protecting river and stream water quality from the impacts of agriculture and development.

Green Fin Studio was hired by the Consortium to provide ongoing communications and outreach support to help them engage with riparian landowners about the benefits of buffers. We conducted a website audit to ensure they we communicating efficiently and effectively and providing easy access to the information people are seeking. We conducted stakeholder interviews and determined that while Consortium members had no problem connecting with interested landowners, they didn’t have the resources needed to communicate about buffers and the process of installing them. We created an outreach toolkit to be used by Consortium members that includes an FAQ document and several infographics that explain the benefits of buffers, how they evolve over time, and the maintenance involved. The toolkit also includes an educational module to inform municipal leaders about the multiple benefits of buffers. Green Fin also develops the Consortium’s annual report.