In July 2021 GaLTT surveyed Gabriolans to find out how much they were aware of our conservation work. Over 320 people participated, which delighted us—thank you to all who contributed.

Demographics of respondents

First we asked people to let us know what general categories they fell into.

A pie chart shows age breakdown: 3.5% 19-34, 37% 35-64, 59% 65-84, .5% 85+
A pie chart shows gender breakdown: 73% female, 25.5% male, 1% prefer not to say, .5% non-binary
A pie chart shows makeup of households: 72% 2 adults or more, 21.5% single adult, 6.5% children
A pie chart shows residency status: 89% full-time, 9.5% part-time or seasonal, 1.25% visitor, .75% non-resident

The questions

GaLTT is unusual in that it has a dual mandate: conserve and connect. Because so much work in early years was done on trails, we are better known for our connections than our conservation work. Recently we’ve been considerably more active on conservation issues, as well as beginning to work actively on improving accessibility, and we wanted to know if this had changed people’s perceptions of the organization. We also wanted to know how people get information from or about us. The purpose of all of this is to find ways to make our communications about our activities more effective.

When you think of GaLTT, what do you think of?

The answers showed that although we are best known for trail work and maps, conservation issues, especially invasives work, are beginning to challenge that.

Are you aware of the conservation work GaLTT does in the areas listed below?

People may know that we have a conservation mandate, but does that translate into knowing exactly what kind of work we take on?

Our invasive species work clearly won out, which is not surprising since we’ve been so publicly active in that area over the past few years.

Where do you get information about GaLTT and its activities?
Have you visited the GaLTT website specifically for information on conservation issues?
What is your relationship to GaLTT?

The results of the survey have given us a helpful picture of how our communications have been working, and we hope to do more analysis over time. (For example, what is the relationship between membership and following GaLTT’s activities with interest? Are there non-members who are interested in our work?) We may also repeat the survey again in a few years and compare the results, so that we know if there have been changes in awareness or in ways people get information about us; as many of you know, for example, we’ve been changing our presence on Facebook and that may have effects.

Again, a big thank you to all who participated!

Tags: , , Categories: ConservationPublished On: February 20, 2022

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