Great Lakes Map: Organizational Capacity and Pollution Sources
How to Read This Map
River Network’s Organizational Assessment Tool collected data from non-profits working on water issues throughout the region. We collected data on each organization’s use of 13 pre-determined best management practices. This data was scored on a Yes/No or Not Applicable basis, and a single point allocated for each positive response. Thus, if a group has all 13 practices in place they are assigned a maximum score of 13.
We also asked groups to rate their readiness for public engagement using a scale of 1-4. If they had strong agreement with a statement they ranked it 4, conversely strong disagreement elicited a value of 1. The maximum cumulative score of these five questions would have been 20 points.
The five statements to determine preparedness for public engagement are:
- Participates in coalitions and partners with key stakeholders that help them reach particular policy goals.
- Active participant in settings where public policy is discussed and local decisions are made related to water.
- Takes time to identify and implement concrete tactics and strategies to help them reach their particular policy goals.
- Communicates effectively with media and uses a variety of mechanisms to promote their policy or advocacy goals. (e.g. earned media, social media, direct outreach).
- Raises a diverse array of financial resources to support their engagement in policy making or advocacy.
A color-graded scale was produced for the map using the resulting data sets. The darkest colors indicate highest capacity/level of public engagement readiness.
FrackTracker provided numerous data layers representing important threats to Great Lakes waters that include (but are not limited to): confined animal feeding operations, oil and gas extraction, transportation and storage facilities, combined sewer overflows, and mining operations.