OREGON CONNECTIVITY ASSESSMENT & MAPPING PROJECT
KEY SERVICES:
HABITAT ASSESSMENT & CONNECTIVITY
COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH
WEB & PRINT DESIGN
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) SERVICES
Samara Group was hired by Portland State University to lead species selection and outreach & engagement efforts for the Oregon Connectivity Assessment & Mapping Project. This project is intended to advance priority conservation planning through understanding and mitigating barriers to wildlife movement in the state of Oregon. The project included connectivity assessment and mapping at fine resolutions across Oregon to fill knowledge gaps, extensive outreach to encourage a diverse group of partners to utilize and implement the results from the assessment, and communication of data and results that is easy to access, view, and understand. The results from the Oregon Connectivity Assessment and Mapping Project, including the Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas (PWCA) Web Map is now publicly available here.
FACILITATION OF THE CLACKAMAS PARTNERSHIP
KEY SERVICES:
GROUP FACILITATION
Samara Group was hired to facilitate a series of workshops for the Clackamas Partnership. This partnership is a collaborative group that incorporates expertise and knowledge across multiple watersheds to support ecological uplift in the Clackamas River Basin. As the partnership continues to implement a Focused Investment Partnership grant through the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the group identified the importance of reviewing decision-making tools, prioritization of projects, and distribution of funding for possible updates or adaptive approaches. Samara Group led three workshops with over 24 participants that focused on the objectives of the partnership moving forward, the decision-making tools and processes involved, and the existing governance documentation. These online workshops used breakout sessions and consensus-based group discussions in order to outline future funding and project goals. Following the discussion series, Samara Group provided a final report that included meeting summaries and outcomes, additional recommendations, and a framework for a combined procedural document.
NORTH CLACKAMAS WATERSHEDS ACTION PLAN
KEY SERVICES:
Strategic Planning
Communications & Outreach
Group Facilitation
Samara Group partnered with GeoEngineers to develop a 10-year Watersheds Action Plan for the North Clackamas watersheds. This Watersheds Action Plan contains actions for all agencies and partners that operate within the North Clackamas watersheds, as well as the Council, where each partner can play to their strengths. Samara Group led the team’s planning efforts to organize available data, assess gaps in information, set plan objectives and strategies, facilitate stakeholder engagement and input, and oversee the data analysis informing the final plan’s effectiveness for the North Clackamas Watersheds Council as well as the partners they work with. The team interviewed multiple stakeholder organizations, evaluated over 300 reference records, re-defined the urban watershed boundaries, and developed an outline of objectives and assessment questions intended for presentation to interested community and jurisdictional representatives for discussion and input.
INVASIVE SPECIES OUTREACH: JAPANESE BEETLE
KEY SERVICES:
Communications & Outreach
Strategic Planning
Following the discovery of the largest detection of invasive Japanese beetle in Oregon history, a state agency utilized our expertise in messaging, stakeholder identification, meeting facilitation, and community outreach in preparation for the treatment of private properties within the affected area. We developed team strategies for the project, a communications plan, and a project website. We worked side-by-side with state agency staff to reach out to over 1,400 households within the treatment area in year one and over 5,800 in year two. This process resulted in positive community relationships and successful completion of two treatments as part of this multi-year project.
URBAN BIODIVERSITY INVENTORY FRAMEWORK
KEY SERVICES:
Study & Framework Design
Working with five partner cities active in the Urban Sustainability Directors Network across the United States, Samara Group provided a standardized scope and methodology to inventory biodiversity in urban areas and facilitated the development of a companion online tool that can guide city-wide efforts to track data and prioritize urban biodiversity strategies.
STATEWIDE PLAN FOR INVASIVE SPECIES: EMERALD ASH BORER
KEY SERVICES:
Strategic Planning
Group Facilitation
Working with two state agencies, Samara Group used stakeholder engagement and various facilitation techniques in conjunction with in-depth pest management research to develop an emerald ash borer Readiness and Response Plan for the state of Oregon. We coordinated a collaborative project team that included client partners, core project team, and other key stakeholders to compile species information, provide research summaries, and develop and iterate the Readiness and Response Plan based on feedback from the team.
NATIVE SPECIES MONITORING: COASTAL TAILED FROG
KEY SERVICES:
Wildlife & Vegetation Monitoring
Twenty years after the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife first conducted amphibian surveys in the Kilchis River basin, Samara Group was hired to repeat the aquatic herptile surveys to compare aquatic amphibian diversity between 1998 and 2018 and to explore the potential for developing a model to predict the presence of Coastal Tailed Frog (Ascaphus truei). Using the results of the field surveys, Samara Group created a scientifically sound and thorough report that summarized our findings and compared our results to previous studies.
URBAN FOREST PEST READINESS
KEY SERVICES:
Group Facilitation
Strategic Planning
Branding
Print Design
Samara Group worked with the Washington Invasive Species Council and a Steering Team consisting of state and federal agency, public utility, and university representatives to develop an Urban Forest Pest Ready Playbook for the state of Washington. This playbook helps close a gap in readiness and pest response capabilities between community leaders managing urban forests and state and federal responders. The finalized Playbook and associated resources have evolved from multiple collaborative planning sessions that were facilitated by Samara Group and had representatives from relevant federal and state agencies, counties, cities, industries, and non-governmental organizations. The scope of the playbook includes a preliminary assessment of readiness, a set of actions, case studies, and links to helpful resources.
SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION JOINT REGIONAL CONFERENCE
KEY SERVICES:
Graphic Facilitation
Web & Print Design
Samara Group sponsored the joint regional conference with the Society for Ecological Restoration and Society for Wetland Scientists, contributing our design, graphic harvesting, and group moderating expertise. We created a branded look for the conference, along with a program, promotional posters, wayfinding and sponsorship signage, and stickers.
INTERNATIONAL URBAN WILDLIFE CONFERENCE
KEY SERVICES:
Design Strategy
Web & Print Design
Event Planning
Branding
Marketing
Samara Group played a lead role in planning and coordinating all aspects of the four-day international conference, including scheduling, venue logistics, catering, online registration, email correspondence, and conference logo & program design. The conference, which was hosted in June 2019 at Portland State University, included over 50 sessions, 7 field trips, 7 workshops, and 3 evening social events. In total, the conference was attended by over 300 people from 7 countries and 34 U.S. states.
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION MATERIALS
KEY SERVICES:
Design Strategy
Media
Communications & Outreach
Samara Group was hired to provide design services for a federal-state cooperative educational program to enhance the message and visual aesthetic of the materials for outreach to international and study abroad students at colleges and universities. Our design solutions were informed by an evolving brand that is used by various state and federal agencies. We created a brochure that now has a reach of more than 10,000 copies distributed to travelers around the country.
BULL TROUT CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY
KEY SERVICES:
Branding
Strategic Planning
Communications & Outreach
Working with the Burns Paiute Tribe, Samara Group was hired to develop an Outreach and Education Plan with accompanying branded materials to support bull trout recovery. The process to create the plan included a 2-day meeting with 20 local conservation and agency stakeholders where information was collected to inform the strategies, stakeholder outreach practices, and timelines. The final brand and outreach plan was developed with input from multiple agency partners and serves as the structure to implement three primary communication strategies, and includes a clear timeline with tactics and goals. Visit the Help Native Fish website.
GREEN THE GREEN NETWORK
KEY SERVICES:
Communications & Outreach
Group Facilitation
Strategic Planning
Branding
Samara Group developed a coordinated messaging and outreach strategy for riparian revegetation projects along the Green-Duwamish River in Washington working with four local jurisdictions and more than 14 non-governmental organizations. Samara Group conducted an online questionnaire, partner interviews, and facilitated a workshop between 25 network partners to produce a strategic communication and engagement plan with key audiences, messaging, a unified branding strategy, and a series of recommendations for best engagement practices moving forward.
Link to the Green-Duwamish River Revegetation Outreach and Engagement Plan
POLLINATOR COMMUNICATIONS & STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
KEY SERVICES:
Strategic Planning
Group Facilitation
Communications & Outreach
Branding
Marketing
Samara Group was hired to support an innovative and novel approach to addressing statewide pollinator health by coordinating efforts among multiple state agencies and educational institutions. Samara Group supported the development of this new and successful initiative by facilitating meetings, collaboratively designing and branding project materials, facilitating interagency communications, and implementing a statewide, online awareness campaign leading up to 2018 Pollinator Week focusing on Oregonians and their bees.
BUTTERNUT CREEK COMMUNITY OUTREACH STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION
KEY SERVICES:
Communications & Outreach
Graphic Design
Illustration
Samara Group worked with PKS International to integrate engagement and outreach components into a multi-year hydromodification project in an area around Butternut Creek. Samara Group established strategies and key messages with Clean Water Services to communicate about project work and the complexity of dynamic stream systems to community members. Engagement activities were supported in English and Spanish.
NATIVE SPECIES MONITORING: NORTHWESTERN POND TURTLE
KEY SERVICES:
Communications & Outreach
Wildlife & Vegetation Monitoring
Habitat Assessment & Connectivity
Geographic Information System (GIS) Services
Working with a state agency, Samara Group coordinated occupancy surveys and pre/post restoration monitoring of Northwestern Pond Turtles across their range in Oregon. As part of this effort, we trained professional biologists and community scientists on proper methodology to conduct visual encounter surveys and coordinated efforts to answer important research questions and conduct occupancy analysis. In addition, we documented and assessed the impact of restoration activities to improve habitat and nesting resources for the Northwestern Pond Turtle.
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE FEASIBILITY STUDY
Key Services:
Communications & Outreach
The Columbia Slough Watershed Council (CSWC) hired Samara Group in 2020 to conduct a Green Infrastructure Initiative Feasibility Study via an online survey. The main goals of the survey were to learn more about the motivations for and barriers to voluntary green infrastructure investments by the private sector and for the CSWC to build relationships with the businesses located along the Columbia Slough. To do this, Samara Group prioritized the inclusion of a site visit form, phone call outreach, and open-ended survey questions to better hear the perspectives of business leaders. We heard from businesses across a gradient of sizes, industries, tenancy, and locations. The survey was designed for relationship-building objectives which resulted in hundreds of conversations with businesses, dozens of responses, and multiple respondents interested in follow-up site visits. Following the success of Phase I, CSWC hired Samara Group again in 2021 to conduct a follow-up survey to further build relationships with businesses along the Slough. During this Phase II survey, Samara Group helped increase outreach opportunities through designing and distributing a postcard and supporting a second round of phone outreach.
INVASIVE SPECIES OUTREACH: SPONGY MOTH
KEY SERVICES:
Communications & Outreach
Group Facilitation
Storytelling & Writing
Design Strategy
Samara Group was contracted by a state agency to coordinate an inclusive and participatory engagement process during eradication efforts that followed the detection of invasive spongy moth in Oregon. We supported efforts to educate residents in the area about the impacts of spongy moth and the ramifications of treating aerially. We facilitated stakeholder meetings, collaboratively designed outreach materials and outreach events, developed scientifically based materials and assisted in organizing internal communications between stakeholders.