Cole, Bevier, Nyhus, and Students Coauthor Paper on Lake Protection Program

Professors F. Russell Cole (biology, emeritus), Cathy Bevier (biology), and Philip Nyhus (environmental studies) coauthored a paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Titled "Assessing LakeSmart, a community-based lake protection program," the paper included contributions from Alexa Junker '16 and Sophie Sarkar '11. The paper assesses the LakeSmart program, which was created in response to lakeshore threats and "to promote the use of lake-friendly landscaping practices." The team conducted "237 surveys and 8 stakeholder interviews to investigate motivations that drive conservation behavior among lakeshore residents, to explore the effectiveness of criteria used for LakeSmart evaluations and to identify potential areas for improvement of its structural design and marketing strategies."