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OBJECTIVES: ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH: 1. Establish fertilizer application recommendations regionally appropriate for soil and seasonal conditions and likely to minimize water quality impacts. 2. Compile a list of other yard care practices that can result in reduced need for additional nutrient inputs e.g. using compost, replacing grass with varieties that require less inputs, etc. 3. Evaluate the potential of new soil and tissue tests to identify which lawns are likely to be responsive or non-responsive to N fertilizers. <P>BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH: 1. Explore primary drivers of lawn care choices and practices of do it yourselfers, especially with regard to fertilizer application. Information from non-DIYs will also be analyzed. 2. Investigate perceived barriers and benefits to adoption of more water quality-friendly nutrient application practices. 3. Examine relative measures of trust and frequency of contact for various sources of yard care information by neighborhood residents. 4. Determine effectiveness of trained opinion-leaders (such as Master Gardeners, local garden center staff, alpha neighbors, Extension staff, etc) to influence residential nutrient management behavior in neighborhoods.<P> EDUCATION: Students will learn about 1. the confluence of social and environmental science. 2. elements of participatory research and extension. 3. regionally appropriate nutrient recommendations for home lawns and gardens. 4. cutting edge social science research methods and analytical techniques. 5. strategies for effective outreach. 6. helping develop environmental practice interventions based on social science and environmental science findings.<P> EXTENSION: 1. 80% of participating opinion leaders will report an increase in knowledge about the effects of nutrients on water quality. 2. 80% of participating opinion leaders will report an increase in knowledge about home nutrient recommendations. 3. 80% of participating opinion leaders will know how to use a soil-based N test. 4. 75% of neighborhood participants will report an increase in knowledge about recommended nutrient application practices through interaction with opinion leaders. 5. 70% of neighborhood participants will indicate greater willingness to adopt more WQ friendly practices as a result of interaction. 6. 65% of neighborhood participants will commit to adopting at least 2-3 recommended nutrient application reduction strategies (including use of N test). 7. 60% of neighborhood participants will report adopting at least 2 recommended practices the following growing season.
Non-Technical Summary: Like many regions of the country, New England is experiencing high rates of conversion of formerly agricultural and forested lands to residential development. Acres that were once farms or forests are being subdivided and covered with asphalt, buildings and turf. Excess nutrients pose a threat to many water bodies in New England, both coastal and inland. Nitrogen is considered the limiting nutrient in estuaries and phosphorus in fresh waters, and residential runoff is considered a source of both. This integrated, interdisciplinary, multi-state project will apply environmental and behavioral research results to Extension efforts to reduce the application of excess nutrients by homeowners (do-it-yourselfers) in targeted, urbanizing neighborhoods throughout New England with the ultimate goal of protecting surface and groundwater quality. <P> Approach: ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH APPROACH Nutrient management research will focus on evaluating the Illinois soil N test (amino-sugar N) and the KMnO4 test (active soil C) as methods to identify N responsive or non-responsive lawns. Soil samples from 30 to 50 lawn sites will be collected from late April to early May and analyzed for active soil C and amino-sugar N. Additional soil properties will be measured. Turf growth and quality responses will be collected across the growing season from these sites and correlated to the soil test values. Areas where the soil samples are collected will remain unfertilized to prevent confounding of turf responses to applied N fertilizer with inherent N at the site. Data will be analyzed using a Cate-Nelson model. Establishment of a critical value for active soil C and amino-sugar N will form the basis of providing more reliable N recommendations than the current set schedule/set rate practices. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH APPROACH In the first stage of the research, semi-structured in-depth interviews will be conducted with opinion leaders and Extension staff working in the study communities. Participants will be purposively sampled to identify an initial pool of respondents, and snowball sampling techniques will be used to identify additional ones. A total of 50-60 interviews are anticipated. The second stage of the research consists of a self-administered questionnaire survey delivered to a randomly selected sample of residents of the five purposively selected communities. The community selection criteria were developed based on important dimensions of the extension efforts in this project and a scientifically random sample of 300 community residents will be selected in each study community. In addition, the community data collection will also sample residents of the neighborhoods targeted for Extension activities by administering the survey to an additional 40-200 households, depending on the size of the neighborhood defined by interview respondents. EDUCATION APPROACH At least 3 graduate students and 6 undergraduate students from Plymouth State University, where the social science research will be based, will be involved in the survey development, data gathering, analysis and evaluation components under the supervision of Dr. Brian Eisenhauer over the duration of the project. The project is likely to provide thesis material for at least one of those students. At least 3 undergraduate students and 1 graduate student from University of Connecticut will be involved in the nutrient recommendation portion of the project under the supervision of Dr. Karl Guillard. EXTENSION APPROACH Extension staff will use the results of environmental research to establish fertilizer application (or non-application) recommendations and behavioral research to develop interventions. 1. Review nutrient recommendations and craft message. 2. Review social science findings, design the intervention, and produce campaign materials. 3. Train opinion leaders based on task 1 and 2 above. 4. Assist opinion leaders with delivery of neighborhood outreach campaigns. 5. Assist with evaluation