indicator

Stewardship Index

The Niantic River Watershed Committee deployed a social marketing strategy to encourage 700 local residents to use less or no fertilizer on their lawns in the Niantic River watershed, East Lyme and Waterford, Connecticut.

Focus Question

Are people around Long Island Sound engaging in behaviors that help steward and conserve the Sound and its watershed?

Answer: Yes, and to help answer this question, the Long Island Sound Partnership developed a stewardship index using data from the 2024 Long Island Sound Public Perception Survey (PPS). The stewardship index is an aggregate average of those who reported engaging in the ‘positive’ actions (either “sometimes”, “usually”, or “always”), and those who reported avoiding the ‘negative’ actions (doing them either “seldom” and “never”). Our region’s stewardship index is 55, meaning that in their daily lives, residents of the watershed are taking a little over half the actions we measured that help protect Long Island Sound. More work needs to be done to help people understand their individual impact on waterbodies in the Long Island Sound watershed and to provide community members with information, resources, and opportunities that empower them to become more active stewards of the environment.

What Was Measured

This indicator is based on data from the 2024 Long Island Sound Public Perception Survey (PPS), specifically data from questions measuring people’s engagement in 14 behaviors that can impact Long Island Sound.

Status and Trends

Fair

Uncertain

The stewardship index was developed based on new data from the 2024 Public Perception Survey to help measure progress under this objective and identify trends in people’s sustainable practices. Before the 2024 PPS, the last PPS was conducted in 2006 and, while it had some common questions, it might not provide a sufficient baseline for determining trends. Thus, the 2024 stewardship index is likely to remain the baseline for this indicator, with the Long Island Sound Partnership aiming to increase the index over the next 10 years. Check back in 2026 for more progress.

In the 2024 PPS, we measured people’s current adoption of 14 actions that impact Long Island Sound either positively or negatively. ‘Positive’ actions included recycling, using a refillable water bottle, picking up litter and dog waste, using rain barrels, and reducing lawn sizes, among others. ‘Negative’ actions included fertilizing, using herbicides and pesticides, littering, and car washing on a paved driveway or street (all of these actions contribute to stormwater pollution).

The stewardship index is an aggregate average of those who reported engaging in the ‘positive’ actions (either “sometimes”, “usually”, or “always”), and those who reported avoiding the ‘negative’ actions (doing them either “seldom” and “never”). Our region’s stewardship index is 55, meaning that in their daily lives, residents of the watershed are taking a little over half the actions we measured that help protect Long Island Sound.

The 2024 PPS also found that protecting the environment is a personal priority for many, with 62 percent of survey respondents ranking it “at the top” or “above average” on their priority list. This suggests that many people in the Long Island Sound watershed care about the environment and are taking steps towards protecting it.

However, there is still significant room for improvement. The 2024 PPS found that while most people understand what they do on land can affect the health of our waterbodies, many do not necessarily connect their actions on land to the potential impacts on the Sound.

While 73 percent of survey respondents agreed with the statement “The actions of people on land have an impact on the health of Long Island Sound”, only 16% answered “yes” when asked, “Do you think there is anything that you do now as part of your daily life that might hurt the quality of water in Long Island Sound?” Moreover, when asked to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement “I know what I can do to help improve the health of the Sound”, almost two thirds of the respondents selected “neutral or not sure”, “somewhat disagree” or “strongly disagree”, suggesting that most feel they do not know how they can help.

Thus, more work needs to be done to help people understand their individual impact on waterbodies in the Long Island Sound watershed and to provide community members with information, resources, and opportunities that empower them to become more active stewards of the environment.