Identifying Conservation Actions

Research highlights

In 2023, we surveyed zoo and aquarium educators, conducted informal interviews with Queens Zoo guests, facilitated focus groups with community members, and surveyed NYC residents to learn what conservation actions were most relevant and meaningful to them.
Respondents tended to focus on plastic and trash as major environmental problems but also identified poor tree health and lack of natural areas as issues.
Drawing on community-based social marketing theory, we used the survey data to identify high-potential conservation actions where focused efforts by the Queens Zoo to engage community members can have the biggest conservation impact.
For the Queens Zoo community, creating wildlife habitat using native plant species was a highly relevant and impactful action for developing programming and messaging.

Context

Zoos and aquariums are conservation organizations that are committed to supporting visitors in taking action to save wildlife and wild places. Research demonstrates that people are most motivated to act when the conservation actions are personally relevant, realistic, novel, and lead to real change. We aimed to identify conservation issues and actions that resonate with people who live near the Queens Zoo to help shape the messaging that we embed in our exhibit interpretation and programs.

Research question

How do we identify conservation actions where Queens Zoo’s support can increase our community’s conservation impact?

Methods

Phase 1: Identifying Community Priorities

Interviews with Queens Zoo Visitors: 25 Queens Zoo visitors participated in game-show type interviews about their conservation behaviors, what they perceive as environmental problems, and environmental solutions.
Community Focus Groups: 20 Queens residents joined us to discuss positive environmental actions in their neighborhoods, environmental problems, potential solutions, and how the Queens Zoo could help.
Zoo & Aquarium Educator Survey: 45 WCS educators identified conservation actions that were novel, impactful, and easy for New Yorkers to do at home and during a zoo visit.

Phase 2: Aligning Community Priorities with Impact

Public Survey: We conducted an online survey of 400 New Yorkers. We asked participants to rate their interest in eight conservation actions identified in Phase 1 to measure their relevance, participation, novelty, and perceived impact.
Identifying Priority Actions: We combined two decision-making equations that considered various aspects of community engagement, perceptions, and environmental impact with data from the public survey to evaluate the potential of each of the eight conservation actions to lead to meaningful change. We ranked the actions against each other and evaluated alignment with Queens Zoo’s priorities to identify the conservation actions in which Queens Zoo’s support would increase community conservation impact.

Major findings

Visitors, community members, and educators prioritized a wide range of conservation actions. Key themes included: environmental advocacy, personal growth and volunteering, managing wildlife habitat, and managing waste and energy use.
Decision-making equations identified (1) enrolling with a clean energy provider, (2) conducting an energy audit of your home, (3) advocating for urban green space, and (4) creating wildlife habitat by planting native plants as four actions that have high potential for community engagement to lead to meaningful environmental impacts.
Queens Zoo’s priorities and expertise are well-aligned with community efforts to create native wildlife habitat. We are working to incorporate this conservation actions into our messaging and programming.

Products

Part of this research was presented at the 2024 Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.